Mat,
Barbara Kruger’s work has never made me feel “sad” or be a “buzzkill” but your visceral article of immediacy surely has. Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves you cold, Mat? What other giant in the art industry are you going to take a hack at next? Take a swing at Cindy Sherman while your at it. The template you’ve put forth here would work for any “boomer” artist. You don’t even mention Jenny Holzer in your article, or Christopher Wool for that matter, artists that pioneered visual text as art. Also the “compare and contrast” journalism of Kruger and Koons? Why? Because they made art during the same time? Because they can be grouped under the -ism of Pop Art or post-post-modernism? Seems you’ve taken your dislike for Koons (which is not misplaced, mind you) and just appropriated it onto Kruger. Pretty wide brush.
I’m at a loss here. You punish Kruger for her unoriginality without any acknowledgment of how original and ground breaking her work was, especially for a female artist in the late 70’s early 80’s who scrapped up from her working class upbringing in Newark, New Jersey to become a respected artist. No easy feat. Is her new work old and hackneyed? Yes. Has she become a parody of herself? Yes. Is her work now simply establishment claptrap 4 decades out? Perhaps. But your viciousness is not dialogue but a trope masquerading as art criticism. It’s an attack. She threatens you in someway, she an affront to your sensibilities and cultural stance. In that way, she has succeeded. This is what art sets out to do, elicit a response in the viewer. This proves to me that her work is still relevant after all these years. I find solace in knowing you’ve fallen into the rabbit’s trap.
I’ll need to dig into your claim that Kruger believes “sloganeering is somehow equivalent to taking action”. I’ve never known her to state this in the intention of her work. Seems like a fabrication on your part. Also your phrase “Trumpian self-regard” seems like a low blow. Really? Throwing partisan politics into the ring because she’s an established artist? Water thin. It’s seems you are knee-jerk attacking the artist just to attack the establishment of the art world itself. At least read her Wikipedia blurb before you come out swinging. Might give you a fighter’s chance.
With that said, your gibes are well-written and your angst is verbose and pointed. Anti-institutional and anti-status quo stances against “billionaire trustees” and the establishment are needed even more than ever. I salute you. I’ve been waiting a hell of a long time for the revolution to begin. Mark me down as a fan.
Jeff J. Sargent
Vancouver, WA