Lecture 9 - Image & Text

When working image and text it is very important to think about how they are going to work with each other, as the wrong placing of the text or image could ruin a piece. It is also important to think about what you are trying to convey with your text and whether the image also suits the text. Use of image and text can be used in many forms such as a spread in a magazine such as GQ (USA) which is known for its use of incorporating or blending the image and text together to make it seem like one piece, it can be used to be describing the image, be part of an image such as a sign or be part of a collage.

(Kanye West - GQ USA, Fred Woodward)

One artist that works and challenges ideas with image and text is Barbara Kruger; her work is famous for her use of collage and her signature text of a red background and white bold text. She uses text in her work to share a strong message that she feels the need to portray; usually the text feels quite aggressive and hits hard issues. This goes well with the strong and contrasting colours she uses in her work for example red, grey, white and black.
Much of her text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and-white images are culled from the mainstream magazines that sell the very ideas she is disputing This statement is interesting as in some ways she is promoting the magazine and their ideas but she then inverts everything that they are doing as a publication and making it very much about herself and her views. Her work tries to engage the audience to show her struggle to fight for the freedom of speech and for people to voice their true opinions.

This perhaps is her most famous piece; the quote used shows her fight for woman's right and her believes and views on feminism. The image used is taken from a magazine and shows and obviously attractive woman, but then one side of her face has been transformed in a negative image. The use of turning the image into a negative shows an obvious two sides to the industry of fashion magazines and Barbara Kruger's own views on the industry and again her background interest of feminism.
Despite their only being five words on the piece as audience we clearly understand what message she is trying to put across, the layout of this piece is also important as we read the text at the same time as we view the image. The text has been placed in a line formation so we read the text; your body, see the models eyes, text: is a, mouth and then the last line of text, battleground. This layout is effective as we take in the piece as a whole and do not see the image and text as two separate images, or in fact as what it is, a collage.