Conceptual artist Barbara Kruger was born in 1945 in Newark, New Jersey. She is known for her provocative and thought-provoking works that combine text and imagery. With a background in graphic design and photography, Kruger has crafted a distinctive visual language that critiques consumerism, power structures and gender politics.
Barbara Kruger studied at Syracuse University and the Parsons School of Design in New York. Her early career in graphic design and art direction, including a stint at Condé Nast Publications, significantly influenced her artistic style. By the late 1970s, Kruger had developed her signature approach: black-and-white photographs overlaid with bold, confrontational text in Futura Bold Oblique or Helvetica Extra Bold typefaces.
Her most famous works are plastered with slogans like ‘Your body is a battleground’ (1989) and ‘I shop therefore I am’ (1987), commenting on societal attitudes towards women’s rights and bodily autonomy and critiquing the rampant consumerism of our time. In 2021 Christie’s sold another one of Kruger’s iconic images, Untitled (Your Manias Become Science) (1981), for US$1,170,000. This work demonstrates her continued effort in using art to shed light on the underlying power structures that underpin our daily lives.
In 1982 Kruger represented the United States at the Venice Biennale and in 2005 she was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. Her work has been exhibited in major institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Modern in London.
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Unique)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Your Manias Become Science)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (When I hear the word culture I take out my checkbook)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Don't Shoot)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (We will no longer be your favorite disappearing act)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (When I hear the word culture I take out my checkbook)
Barbara Kruger (B. 1945)
Untitled (Perpetual Still Life)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (What you see is what you get)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (The Marriage of Murder and Suicide)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
GO/STAY
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (We Won't Be Our Own Best Enemy)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (You Can't Drag Your Money Into The Grave With You)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Belief + Doubt = Sanity)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Questions)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Keep us at a distance)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (I will not become what I mean to you)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Who follows orders?)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (You Rejoice in Novelty)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Your every wish is our command)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Your taste is in your mouth)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (don't buy us with apologies)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (you produce an infinite sequence of originals)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Your Life Is A Perpetual Insomnia)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Wish you were here)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Another artist, Another exhibition, Another gallery, Another magazine, Another review, Another career, Another life)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (You are an experiment in terror)
Barbara Kruger (B. 1945)
Untitled (Go/Stay)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Shove It, Starve It, Blind It, Choke It, Drown It, Shame It, Buy It, Fuck It)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (From your mouth to God's ear)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Let Go)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Raw Material)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Money Talks)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Open Wide)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
"Untitled" (Now You See Us Now You Don't)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Another artist, Another exhibition, Another gallery, Another magazine, Another review, Another career, Another life)
Barbara Kruger (née en 1945)
Sans titre (Fate)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Only the unborn have your right to life)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (You drive a hard bargain)
Barbara Kruger (B. 1945)
Untitled (Seeing through you)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Only the unborn have your right to life)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (War Without End)
Barbara Kruger (B. 1945)
Untitled (Who Will Write the History of Tears?)
Barbara Kruger (b. 1945)
Untitled (Is There a Perfect Mate for Everyone?)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
"Untitled" (Hate)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
"Untitled" (Specific)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (Fear like us)
BARBARA KRUGER (B. 1945)
Untitled (We are your circumstantial evidence)
Barbara Kruger (B. 1945)
Face it (Magenta)