Barbara Kruger- Your Body is A Battleground

 Art, Artists, Conceptual Art, Los Angeles Art Shows, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters, Photographers / Photography, Politics
Jun 252022
 

This work is currently on view at The Broad in Los Angeles.

Information from the museum’s website about this artwork-

Barbara Kruger addresses media and politics in their native tongue: tabloid, sensational, authoritative, and direct. Kruger’s words and images merge the commercial and art worlds; their critical resonance eviscerates cultural hierarchies — everyone and everything is for sale. The year 1989 was marked by numerous demonstrations protesting a new wave of antiabortion laws chipping away at the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. Untitled (Your body is a battleground) was produced by Kruger for the Women’s March on Washington in support of reproductive freedom. The woman’s face, disembodied, split in positive and negative exposures, and obscured by text, marks a stark divide. This image is simultaneously art and protest. Though its origin is tied to a specific moment, the power of the work lies in the timelessness of its declaration.

 

Throwback Thursday- Barbara Kruger’s High Line Mural 2016

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Conceptual Art, Installation Art, New York Art Shows, Politics, Public Art, Quotes, Writers
Jun 032021
 

Barbara Kruger designed this mural, Untitled (Blind Idealism Is…) for the High Line in 2016. It is based on the quote “Blind idealism is reactionary” by Afro-Caribbean psychiatrist and political philosopher Frantz Fanon.

From the High Line website-

The original statement by Fanon, “Blind idealism is reactionary,” suggests that political and religious convictions stem from the situations from which they grow, not from the inherent nature of individual human beings. According to Kruger, the work reflects “how we are to one another” within “the days and nights that construct us.” These texts, along with Kruger’s own writings, resonate with particular potency in today’s political climate.

For more on this work at the time it was made, check out this interview with Kruger by The Intelligencer at New York Magazine.

Barbara Kruger Mural at MOCA Los Angeles

 Art, Artists, California Street Art, Los Angeles Art Shows, Los Angeles Street Art, Painting / Painters, Street Art
Mar 112020
 

This mural, Untitled (Questions) (1990/2018), by artist Barbara Kruger, is on the wall of The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Los Angeles until November 2020. The work was originally commissioned by MOCA in 1989 for the exhibition A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation, and was last installed in 1990 on the south wall of MOCA’s building (now The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA).

 

 

Petzel Gallery- We need to talk…

 Art, New York Art Shows
Feb 112017
 

                                         Jonathan Horowitz– Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat ass? Absolutely. 2016

For their current exhibition, Petzel Gallery decided to focus on the issues raised by the recent election by having a group show related to that theme. In addition they are encouraging visitors to “write down their reactions, thoughts, anxieties, hopes for the future.” There is a lot of great work in the show by a long list of artists that includes Barbara Kruger, Robert Longo, Glenn Ligon, Jenny Holzer, Charles Gaines and Sam Durant.  Although it can be exhausting these days to follow politics, it is encouraging to see creative expression thriving in the midst of the chaos.

Los Angeles Weekend Planner

 Los Angeles Weekend Planner, Music
Feb 202014
 

We Were Promised Jetpacks- Human Error

Things to do in and around Los Angeles this weekend 2/20-2/23:

Thursday-

Thomas Struth is speaking at LACMA- http://www.lacma.org/event/thomas-struth

Thursday through Saturday–

LA Dance Project at the Ace Hotel- Three pieces, including one sneak peek- one choreographed by Benjamin Millepied (Black Swan), another with visual concepts by Barbara Kruger and Sterling Ruby-  http://tickets.ticketforce.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=1222

Tales From Two Cities- Writing from Los Angeles at Los Angeles Central Library- http://writingfromca.com/schedule.html

Friday–

We Were Promised Jetpacks at El Rey- http://www.theelrey.com/events/detail/246549

2 Chainz, Pusha T and August Alsina at the Hollywood Palladium- http://concerts.livenation.com/event/09004B84BA83533B?tm_link=artist_msg-0_09004B84BA83533B&crosssite=TM_US:1615064:73794

Shadow of a Doubt at LACMA with an intro by Bill Hader- http://www.lacma.org/event/shadow-doubt-0

Saturday–

Phantogram at the Hollywood Palladium (moved from the Wiltern)- http://concerts.livenation.com/event/09004C2A924C6519?crosssite=TM_US:1384147:73794

A.S.Berman talks about and signs his book about the groundbreaking TV show Soap at Book Soup- http://soapcompanion.wordpress.com/2014/02/18/book-event-this-saturday-feb-22/

Screening of A Raisin in The Sun with special guest Mamie Hansberry (sister of the film’s writer) at Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum- https://www.facebook.com/events/675105575868937/?ref=22

Pomona Art Walk- http://www.downtownpomona.org/events-calendar/art-walk/

Saturday and Sunday–

Snow Days at the LA Zoo- There will be snow in some animal habitats and sledding for humans- sleds are provided- (2/22 and 2/23)- http://www.lazoo.org/snowdays/

Sunday–

Jacob Hashimoto is speaking at MOCA Grand Avenue (his show opens on 3/1)- http://edu.moca.org/calendar/2014-02-23#mevent-7967

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)