Barbara Kruger Analysis

Victoria Berkel

ARTH 1010:A003

Prof. Kinsey

May 16, 2016

The Importance of Space and Art

Barbara Kruger’s 1987 Untitled (we don’t need another hero) silkscreen/vinyl (90” by 117”) is a photograph of a young girl pointing to the muscle of little boy flexing his arm with red a strip and white text reading “we don’t need another hero.” It is suppose to depict a children’s book advertisement from the 50’s as shown through the black and white photo and iconic children Dick and Jane. Barbara’s use of a classic black and white photo of two iconic children mixed with a bold red strip of white text layered across the photograph is primarily useful to unite the conflicting colors and mediums together to create importance of the message. Barbara

Kruger is known for “[her] signature red, white, and black graphic works have populated magazines, newspapers, art museums, billboards, train stations, and array of other public spaces to interrogate representation, power, and social change” (Museum 201). The “we” in we don’t need another hero creates the sense of identity with the viewer and is what ultimately captures the viewer to believe in the message. Barbara Kruger uses this pronoun tactic in order to grab the attention of society since her work is on a billboard plastered in the eyes of the public. It is an advertisement technique to use subject pronouns in order to persuade the viewer into identifying themselves with the message. Barbara sells her message to the public and to women in society during the 80s. When a woman reads this message they are engaged to critically think about why maybe this little girl is pointing to the muscle of the little boy. Kruger used an outdated image because in the 80s women were still inferior to men and they still had the mentality that men were dominating the world. Her message is direct but also subliminal in the way that it was placed on a billboard in a public space in Figure

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