Show, Don't Tell

In the artwork above, a young boy flexes his muscle and a girl pokes at it. White text on a red background cuts across the image. It says, “We don’t need another hero.” What idea is the artist, Barbara Kruger, sharing?

To understand it, you first need to know some background. Kruger depicts the children in the style of a 1950s advertisement. The boy’s pose mimics one in a 1942 motivational poster. The poster encouraged women to work while men were fighting overseas in World War II. Forty-five years later, in 1987, Kruger uses a similar image with new text to convey a different message.

In the artwork above, a young boy flexes his muscle. A girl pokes it. White text on a red background cuts across the image. It says, “We don’t need another hero.” What idea is the artist, Barbara Kruger, sharing?

Kruger depicts the children in the style of a 1950s advertisement. The boy’s pose looks like the woman’s pose in a famous 1942 poster. The poster encouraged women to work while men fought in World War II. Forty-five years later, in 1987, Kruger adds her own text to a similar image. She shares a message meant to empower modern women.

Kruger started her career as a graphic designer for Condé Nast, the company that owns publications like Vogue and Vanity Fair. During her time there, she learned to arrange words and images in a way that captured readers’ attention as they flipped through the glossy magazine pages. Kruger was so good at her job that one year after being hired she was named head designer. But she wanted to do something different.  “I realized that I couldn’t be a designer,” she says. “But I also didn’t really know what it meant to call myself an artist.”

In her 30s, Kruger began playing with collage, using striking texts and found photographs sourced from print media. The artist understood that by using typography, design, and images and phrases with meaning already attached, she could convey powerful messages and ask urgent questions about contemporary life. In her 1987 I Shop Therefore I Am, above, Kruger changes the words of a quote by the philosopher René Descartes—“I think therefore I am”—to make a statement about shopping in modern culture. By referring to a phrase most viewers already understand, she makes her ideas clear. 

Kruger started her career as a graphic designer for fashion magazines. She learned to arrange words and images in a way that kept readers’ attention. Kruger was so good at her job that she was quickly promoted to head designer. But she soon realized that she wanted to do something else.

Kruger tried collage. She used text and photos she found in books and magazines. Viewers may already have ideas about what these images and phrases mean. Kruger reuses and combines them to make strong statements and ask important questions. 

Kruger’s 1987 collage I Shop Therefore I Am, above. It references the philosopher René Descartes. He once wrote, “I think, therefore I am.” Kruger changes the quote to make a statement about shopping in modern culture. By starting with a well-known phrase, she makes her own ideas clear.

Eventually, Kruger began seeing architectural spaces as canvases. In her 2012 Belief+Doubt, an installation at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., above, the artist uses the space’s existing architecture to immerse viewers in her artwork and ideas. Kruger plays with scale and form, using words and patterns on the floor, walls, and even on the vertical edges of the escalators. Together with the grid on the floor, her unified color scheme creates a sense of rhythm. Kruger even adds emoji in the upper corners of the back wall, acknowledging that these symbols are now as commonly used as words. 

Eventually, Kruger began using spaces as canvases. In 2012, she made Belief + Doubt, above, at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. The immersive artwork surrounds viewers. Kruger plays with scale, or size, and covers the walls and floor with words and patterns. On the back wall Kruger adds emojis, which are used like words to communicate today.

Kruger sees public artworks, which appear outside galleries and museums, as opportunities to share her ideas with a broader—and not necessarily art-focused—audience. In 2012, she transformed 12 city buses, like the example above, to send a message about the importance of arts education in Los Angeles.   

Think about each of the works shown here. Kruger uses type, images and phrases with meaning already attached, and the elements of art and principles of design. How does this approach to artmaking help Kruger convey her ideas?

Kruger is interested in public artworks, which aren’t inside galleries and museums. She sees public art as a way to share her work with many people who might not see it otherwise. In 2012, she transformed 12 city buses in Los Angeles, like the example above. She sends a message about the importance of arts education.

Think about each of the works shown here. Kruger uses type, images, and phrases that already have meaning. How does this help her create powerful art that she can share with the world?