Collages inspired by Barbara Kruger

I created a series of collages marrying feminist Barbara Kruger's distinct conceptual visual language, brand and immediacy with that of classic Disney Princesses in their various states of being pretty objects and secondary to their own stories. Meshing the modern and postmodern. Why Barbara Kruger? There were a number of key phrases and words that stood out to me in my previous book research that I wanted to do something with and Kruger immediately came to mind with her strong use of type.

Identifying the use of Futura Bold Oblique or Helvetica Ultra through some quick investigations, I wanted to emblazon these slogans in her style. I think these are pretty successful outcomes and really highlight the docility of Disney Princesses, often sleeping, cooking and tending to men.

Contextual Research of Barbara Kruger

"Barbara Kruger is an American Conceptual artist known for her combination of type and image that conveys a direct feminist cultural critique. Her works examine stereotypes and the behaviours of consumerism with text layered over mass-media images. Rendered with black-and-white, red accented, Futura Bold Oblique, inspired by the Constructivist Alexander Rodechenko, her works offer up short phrases such as “Thinking of You,” “You are a captive audience,” and “I shop therefore I am.” Like multimedia artist Jenny Holzer, Kruger uses language to broadcast her ideas in a myriad of ways, including prints, T-shirts, posters, photographs, electronic signs, and billboards. “I'm fascinated with the difference between supposedly private and supposedly public and I try to engage the issue of what it means to live in a society that's seemingly shock-proof, yet still is compelled to exercise secrecy,” (http://www.artnet.com/artists/barbara-kruger/)

Here are a few examples of Kruger's most popular works. The bright red snappy slogans emblazoned across black and white imagery give immediate thoughts and connections to tabloids, drawing focus to the text with the image in the background - sometimes grainy or distorted.

The red is quite interesting for my project and could draw in emotions and a connection to Little Red Riding Hood? 

If this was a route I were to take I would need to be careful of things such as plagiarism vs inspiration, editing my ideas enough that they become my own, crediting sources (which I will add to my bibliography) and more accuracy to the original works such as a border and graininess of the black and white imagery for a more authentic Kruger look.