About This Lot
Conceptual artist Barbara Kruger is best known for her layered photographs, featuring provocative statements on issues surrounding commercial culture, feminism, and identity politics. In Is Blind Idealism Reactionary?, the artist incorporates the writings of Afro-Carribean philosopher Franz Fanon into her own visual language. The bright white block letters against a saturated red background commands the viewer's attention and offers a biting critique of cultural discourse. The present example is a rare to market print featuring a phrase that continued to reappear throughout Kruger’s extensive oeuvre including the artist's public installment at the High Line in New York City.
Born in 1945 in Newark, New Jersey, Kruger studied art at the School of Visual Arts at Syracuse University, and Parsons School of Design, under Diane Arbus. Her art was heavily influenced by her early work as a graphic designer for publications such as Mademoiselle, House and Garden, and Aperture. In 1973, her large-scale wall hangings were included in the Whitney Biennial, and by 1979, she had published her own photobook, Pictures/Readings, settling firmly into her modern practice of collage. She has exhibited her work at the Museum of Modern Art and the International Center for Photography in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the National Center for Contemporary Art in Grenoble in France, and at the Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland, among other institutions. Her work has also been reproduced on billboards, t-shirts, and other public venues. Kruger currently lives and works in Los Angeles and New York.
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