Comparison of Social Criticism in the Works of Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer Master’S Diploma Thesis

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Bc. Katarína Belejová Comparison of Social Criticism in the Works of Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr. 2013 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Bc. Katarína Belejová Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr., for his encouragement, patience and inspirational remarks. I would also like to thank my family for their support. Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................... 5 1. Postmodern Art, Conceptual Art and Social Criticism .............................................. 7 1.1 Social Criticism as a Part of Postmodernity ..................................................................... 7 1.2 Postmodernism, Conceptual Art and Promotion of a Thought .................................. 9 1.2. Importance of Subversion and Parody ........................................................................... 12 1.3 Conceptual Art and Its Audience ...................................................................................... 16 2. American context ..................................................................................................... 21 2.1 The 1980s in the USA .......................................................................................................... 21 3. Analyses of Social Criticism in the Works of Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer ... 29 3.1 Barbara Kruger ....................................................................................................................... 29 3.1.1 General Overview ........................................................................................ 29 3.1.2 Feminism ...................................................................................................... 34 3.1.3 Power, Control and Manipulation ................................................................ 39 3.1.4 Consumerism and commodification ............................................................. 43 3.2 Jenny Holzer............................................................................................................................ 47 3.2.1 General Overview ........................................................................................ 47 3.2.2 Manipulation and Ideological Hegemony .................................................... 52 3.2.4 Mass media and Consumerism ..................................................................... 54 3.2.4 Feminism ...................................................................................................... 57 Works Cited ................................................................................................................. 65 List of Visual Works Used in the Thesis ..................................................................... 68 English Summary ......................................................................................................... 69 Czech Summary ........................................................................................................... 70 Introduction In contemporary postmodern art, a great and important role is played by social criticism, which functions on various levels. It may be targeted on specific events, figures of social life, corporations and so on as well as on social concepts, way of life, overlooking the importance of minorities or ecological problems. Artists themselves are very often also political or social rights activists and they present their private opinions on various political and social problems publicly and these opinions become the basement for the assessment of their works. Artists and their works also play a considerable role in various activist and political campaigns. In short, social criticism is an omnipresent feature of today’s art. In this diploma thesis, I focus on the way in which social criticism enters the 1980s works of two American postmodern artists - Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer. I would like to focus on topics of social criticism they cover as well as on the way they present it. These two particular artists were chosen because a wide platform of common features can be found in their art: they are both visual artist using textual elements in their art, they represent the same span in art (the era from 1980s till now), they are both female artists incorporating feminism into their art, they are both Americans concerned with (and criticizing) the American way of life and they both consciously use postmodern concepts and theories in their works. On the other hand, numerous differences could be found between them, such as different style of presentation, attitude toward their audience and many more. Therefore, the works of these two artists offer a rich material for a comparison. In the first chapter of my thesis, which is mainly theoretical, the topic of social criticism in postmodern art is covered in general. I point out some general tendencies 5 and the main topics that are covered in the sphere of social criticism by postmodern artists in recent decades. I also focus on some of the main features they use to convey the criticism to their audience. In this part, I briefly comment on the way of presentation of these critical artworks, because this aspect is a very important factor in the analysis of Jenny Holzer´s work. In the second chapter, I comment on some of the main problems that social criticism in these works covers and I focus on them in the American context, as both Holzer and Kruger deal with their topics mainly in connection with American tradition and American stereotypes, which will be shown later. In the third chapter of this work some of the representative works of these two artists are analyzed each of them respectively. The chapter is divided into two subchapters, each of them covering one of the artists. In the subchapters, first a brief general overview of the artists is given and then their works are interpreted. The analyses are based on the topic ranges introduced in the first and the second chapter and they mostly cover how the American stereotypes of the 1908s and their criticism are presented. At the end of this diploma thesis, in the conclusion, the comparison of the works of Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer is given. I comment on the similarities and differences between the presented topics, I point out which tools they use to convey the social criticism to their audience and which aspects are the most important in the presentation of their positions. 6 1. Postmodern Art, Conceptual Art and Social Criticism 1.1 Social Criticism as an Inherent Part of Postmodernity It could be proposed that criticism dealing with and commenting on various aspects of society is a very common and very important feature of postmodernism and of the postmodern art. The credit for this could be given to some of the main philosophical concepts introduced in the postmodern era. Firstly, the theories of Jean- Francois Lyotard should be mentioned here. According to him, the understanding of the term postmodernism could be simplified to a fall of the grand narratives – the myths, stories and worldviews with a universal validity. He announces a chief theme of the postmodern turn: the decline of the legitimating power of ´metanarratives´ as distinctive of postmodern culture. Metanarratives refer to foundational theories/theories of knowledge, morality or aesthetics) and grand stories of social progress which have been central to the legitimation of modern knowledge, culture, and social institutions. (Seidman 5) Instead of these great narratives, the stories and points of view of minorities, suppressed groups of people and individuals are presented and get more attention. In terms of social criticism, the examples of various groups representing the opposition against the dominant discourse, such as feminists who try to subvert traditionally male-based view of society and history, gay movements trying to undermine heterosexual views or black people trying to break down the white hegemonic discourse could be listed. Also narratives of great religions and political systems such as Christianity or Capitalism are questioned and their flaws are being pointed at. 7 Secondly, the concept of Derridean deconstruction cannot be omitted. What Derrida sees as the biggest problem of Western thought tradition is that it is structured in what he calls “binary oppositions” - pair concepts that oppose each other (for example black/white male/female, etc.). From Derrida´s point of view people always tend to associate one of the pair with more positive connotations based on a hegemonic social view and therefore, the judgment is always based on a prejudice. He tries to overcome this way of thinking by what he calls deconstruction. His critique of binary opposition is widely used for example in the promotion of feminist movement (deconstruction of male/female binary opposition) or in postcolonial thinking (Taylor and Winquist 84-5). For sure, more examples could be stated to support the claim that the subversive nature of postmodernism could be found in its very core. Both rejection of the grand narratives and the deconstruction are directed from the ways of thinking and perception of reality that are culturally acclaimed

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