Woman's Art Inc.

Love for Sale: The Words and Pictures of Barbara Kruger by Kate Linker Review by: John Loughery Woman's Art Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring - Summer, 1991), p. 56 Published by: Woman's Art Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1358195 . Accessed: 01/04/2014 03:15
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Arthur Danto. and artcritic LOVE FOR SALE: philosopher is one of the big nameson the Sherman THE WORDS AND PICTURES currentscene and, like Kruger,Jenny OF BARBARA KRUGER Holzer, and SherrieLevine,is probably byKateLinker ortoosuperficially toowellknown, known, 1990 Abrams, for thegoodofherwork.Notnecessarily irksome any faultof hers,she is one of through for Sale is a moderately Love whoseimagesdo notinvite thoseartists advertisebook. If BarbaraKruger's is in carefulviewingbecause everyone are concerned with (in ment-style pictures nod the such a rushto grasptheir her words) a wish "to deconstruct meanings, and on. move and all that notion ofthegreat artist" (78) knowingly, notionimplies-marketplace Hence, the benefitof an oversized status-quo over can linger bookin whichtheviewer aura,a uniquebodyof success,a gallery does in a in a wayone rarely thepictures work-then whyis she the subjectof a there areaptto museum or gallery size? volume ofcoffee-table Abrams (where glossy to look be more And how radicala "social commentator things visually stimulating not being one of be at-visual dynamism and political (12) can anyone agitator" and absorbthemas Sherman's who is represented concerns) by New YorkCity's the a whole. That"whole," of and Boone larger Gallery part Mary high-profile of thesestark, in whose billboardimagesare mounted stagey underlying purpose has to do withSherman's far from cities across theworld?However photographs, #7 1. Cindy Still Film Untitled Fig. Sherman, in theadopted identities interest obsessive these are the the publisher's intentions, (1977). in our women have assumed this book culture, poses thoughts provokes. of vulnerability, these Kate Linker is not alone today in desire,or defensiveness Happened upon unexpectedly, womenin an in avant- startling as thelastword imprison images can exciteor unnerve, thatrelentlessly accepting Kruger For Sherman the state. an and an to and her text authentic unreal, objectified garde, gives interesting becoming impetus of these mark of a movie still-none hit the ofKruger's does not articulate account background, thought.Kruger pretense a film-is takenfrom Linker writes every arebanalor is actually andthemes. oftheworks time; pictures (Although many style, artidevice. "A mass-culture herproseis mercifully party-line Mostimportantly, the perfect as a Postmodernist, predictable. is when fact," freefrom thejargonused bymostof her Kruger'spictureslose pungency it,thestill (9) as Dantodescribes narrative structure. from the tradia art an In her break viewed in a SoHo or lavish instantly legible gallery colleagues.) or purely aesofany- The GirlNextDoor,The Castrating one. Deconstruction tionof artas a decorative booklikethis Bitch, at herbesthasbeen thetic pursuit, Kruger thing-art-worldcliches, male power, The PerpetualInnocent,The Sex Toy, The WomanStalked: an The Good Woman, as forcefulin her statementsas Ida money-as-success-means maintaining is in thefilms ofthe1950sand 1960son which Applebroog,Cindy Sherman,Sherrie. edge and a distancethatthe artist conShermanbased these photographs oflosing. Levine,and Jenny Holzer,amongother danger As a student aimsare sen- tained a limitedand limiting-butvery Postmodernists. ofFoucault, Indeed,Kruger's political of images(1977; Fig. and feminist. But potent-repertoire Barthes, Derrida, and Lacan, Kruger sibly humane, critical, the a rebellion "thenotion of wantsus to considermorecritically to launch 1). So whatwe havein thisbookarepicagainst different women-in is in an aggressive and pub- turesof 40 radically thegreat artist" waysin whichillegitimate authority in from the in our culture, and to thatend to the their enforced bed, kitchens, emerging licly way(as opposed acknowledged ofcon- anonymous at train thesociety's forms of the writshehas adopted stations, shower, smoking, waiting ways early graffiti in bathing or housecoats and and illustrated ersorGuerrilla the staring, suits is to do precisely trol(e.g., slogans, Girls) photos, areat thesametime one themfor herownpur- workof a greatartist-tobe bold,ambi- bandannas-who ads) and reworked is thatthephotograwoman(theconceit Kruger's pictures-with- tious, adventurous,original,and well poses. As a result, on thetraor of hercontempo- pheris herownmodel)taking words aremoreoften seenon billboards known.Yet,likemany "t"-shirts thanon gallery walls-an exhibi- raries, wants to haveit bothways ditional albeit concocted roles that Kruger and MadisonAvenueoffered thatmakessense giventhe andthat does notwork.The most tionstrategy cutting hollywood works' content.Two of hermostfamous provocateurs do not get honored by Allmight be borfor public consumption. and from as Danto rowed observes, Hitchcock, MoMA, ArtNews, Boone, are "We don't need another hero," Harry Mary images never addresses thiscon- andthepoint direcin whicha littlegirlobligingly feelsthe Abrams.Linker is welltaken:No film tradiction. or torwas less open to the individuality growingmuscles of her brother,both of "correct" ofhisfem~ale characters. NormanRockwell products authenticity and it Sherman is an interesting and "good" family artist, genderidentification CINDY SHERMAN: doesnotmatter that sheis lessconalmost of in the divinity values,and "You invest UNTITLED FILM STILLS of the masterpiece," an attack on the the properties cernedwithexploring Danto of thanwiththe realization her medium "sacredness" of art. The latterprinted essay byArthur "idea of a her content. She is challenging phrase is imposed over a fragment 1990 Rizzoli, not an innovative artist," Michelangelo'sSistine Chapel ceiling, photographer. Film Stills Still, Sherman: Untitled artis evenitis difficult to shareDanto'ssoaring us thatall Western reminding Cindy looksat thisartist's black-and- estimation "I can into a neatlypackaged ofheraccomplishments. early tuallyconverted white introduced itsoriginal at once so from ofno other photographs, bya medi- think inspirabodyofwork commodity, tomrn in itself)by timelessand yetso muchof its time as tativeessay (a performance tional roots.

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