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​Vocabulary Preview

• ap·pro·pri·a·tion

• aes·thet·ic

• jux·ta·po·si·tion

• e·voc·a·tive 

• pro·voc·a·tive

ap·pro·pri·a·tion

• the action of taking something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission.

• Appropriation in art is the use of pre-existing objects or images with little or no transformation applied to them. The use of appropriation has played a significant role in the history of the arts (literary, visual, musical and performing arts).

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Barbara Kruger

• To her images she adds her own blunt slogans that challenge how the viewer might otherwise interpret the pictures. 

• Because she alters images taken from other sources, her work is sometimes referred to as appropriation art.

The catchphrase “I shop therefore I am” was borrowed from the French philosopher Rene Descartes “I think Therefore I am’. The phrase means that provided someone is simply thinking; they are living a meaningful existence, was sufficient proof that they did exist.

What does it mean?

What Kruger tries to imply with “I shop therefore I am,” is that the public is no longer defined by what it thinks, but rather by what they owned.

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During the 1980s, the society witnessed “economic potential of working people widening the availability of credit and stimulating homeownership,” a change that had a serious impact on how people consumed.

I shop therefore I am

Kruger’s art criticizes members of society who feel as though it is necessary to replace their own self-worth with materialistic items.

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aes·thet·ic

• concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty; "the pictures give great aesthetic pleasure“

• a set of principles underlying and guiding the work of a particular artist or artistic movement.

jux·ta·po·si·tion

• two contrasting objects, images, or ideas that are placed together or described together, so that the differences between them are emphasized 

Barbara Kruger

• Barbara Kruger is known for works that provocatively integrate photographs and text.

• Her art reveals and challenges the ways in which images used in the commercial media often perpetuate stereotypes, portray women, and encourage conformity. 

e·voc·a·tive 

• bringing strong images, memories, or feelings to mind

pro·voc·a·tive 

• causing thought about interesting subjects

• serving or tending to provoke, excite, or stimulate; stimulating discussion or exciting controversy