I am You and You are Me

Presently, words are like currency. They are a form of exchange that people willingly provide in return for knowledge, access or acceptance. Text messages and social media updates come and go at a rapid pace as if equivalent to a physical, verbal conversation. Words and text exchanges are data, but at the same time are something that people rely on for proof of a relationship or a sense of belonging. Because instant communication is easy, it has the possibility of losing value and meaning– like language is experiencing an inflation. When words can be produced at such a high rate, it is difficult to know the weight that they carry. Considering the power of words, it's interesting to explore the usage of text in the art world. For contemporary artist Barbara Kruger, using text as both medium and subject has remained consistent throughout her extensive career. In an exhibition currently on display at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Kruger challenges the power of words at face-value with a mesmerizing presentation that is some of her best work yet.

The artist’s latest exhibition is entitled “Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You.” This piece serves as an example of the power of text in the 21st century. The piece spans across several walls, ceilings, and floors. Confronting the viewer directly, black and white texts of varying fonts look him in the eye and declare statements like, “YOU ARE SEEING AND BEING SEEN,” and “THIS IS ABOUT THE YOU NOT I.” Words and phrases referencing desire, truth, fear and memory cover the entire space. The viewer maneuvers around the space in order to read each piece and can read the floor piece by viewing it from a higher floor. The vastness of the exhibit is overwhelming. The viewer has no choice but to accept it because of its sheer scale. Kruger’s work swallows the viewer whole and spits him back out without even tasting it. The piece offers self-reflection, seeing the viewer at his core with the intensity and understanding of an old lover– something he can recognize himself in though he may not want to. In the space, the viewer is surrounded with no way out. The contrasting black and white color scheme makes for a hypnotic scene, the viewer like Alice swirling down the rabbit hole. 

While Kruger is the artist, she can also be the specified “I” if the viewer imagines her creating the work, and the “You” as the viewer reads it himself. Like with portraiture, Kruger’s work is made with the intention of having a viewer. The viewer completes the piece. Upon reading it, he is asked questions like “Did I inspire this? Is this about me? Who is the ‘You?’ Who is the ‘I?’” The exhibit is immersive almost without the viewer’s consent. The ability of Barbara Kruger’s work to engulf the viewer in such a way that once he steps into it, it becomes his, demonstrates the power of text on a large scale to capture attention and seduce the mind into a state of heightened self-awareness. 

As Kruger does not have her own website, for further reading visit https://www.artsy.net/artist/barbara-kruger.