Barbara Kruger's "Untitled (Forever)" is on view at the Amorepacific Museum of Art in central Seoul through Dec. 29. / Courtesy of APMA



By Kwon Mee-yoo



Even for those who have not heard the name Barbara Kruger, her trademark white-on-red text bars in Futura Bold Oblique font in the pieces "Your body is a battleground" or "I shop therefore I am" might be familiar.



The Amorepacific Museum of Art (APMA) in central Seoul is holding the American conceptual artist's first solo exhibition in Asia, unveiling Kruger's first-ever Korean alphabet works.



Titled "Forever," the exhibit features some 44 of Kruger's works from the 1980s to her latest pieces incorporating "Hangeul," the Korean alphabet.



Kruger's art is easily recognizable and the distinction comes from her background as a designer at Conde Nast Publications. While doing magazine layouts and designing book jackets, Kruger understood the importance of eye-catching design as well as readability.



"She was interested in visual expression since she was young and had a knack for placing text and image in a space," Kim Kyung-ran, APMA curator said.



Kruger challenges the traditional perception of art in which grand paintings daunt visitors to art museums, by presenting an easier and more intuitive way to appreciate art.



"I work with pictures and words because they have the ability to determine who we are and who we aren't," Kruger once said.





Barbara Kruger's "Untitled (Plenty should be enough)" in Korean alphabet / Courtesy of APMA



'Plenty should be enough'



Before entering the museum, visitors will encounter the English and Korean version of "Untitled (Plenty should be enough)" on the large glass walls of the Korean cosmetic giant's headquarters lobby. The phrase often recurs in Kruger's works, criticizing consumerism, desire and power.



The six-meter-tall vertical texts overwhelm the viewer and emphasizes the architectural traits of the building designed by David Chipperfield. This "Wallpaper" series is designed each time to complement the exhibition space and at APMA visitors have to move around to fully read Kruger's works due to the existing columns.



"The immersive experience achieved by viewer's movement is important in understanding Barbara's works," curator Kim said.



Korean-American art history professor Miwon Kwon of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) translated the phrase into Korean.



"Barbara took interest in the formativeness of the Korean alphabet and suggested making a Korean version of her iconic text works," the curator said. "Professor Kwon is acquainted with Barbara and tried to capture the complicated meaning of the original phrase."



The largest hall of the museum is dedicated to the installation "Untitled (Forever)." The site-specific piece has been re-designed for the APMA exhibit and envelops viewers in the text of George Orwell's "1984" and Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own."



"This artwork also requires viewers to constantly move around to read the full text, which is a commentary on the fierce art world by Kruger, in a disorienting but thought-provoking environment. It also showcases Kruger's long-standing interest in space and architecture," the curator said.





Barbara Kruger's iconic text-on-image works are on view at the Amorepacific Museum of Art. / Courtesy of APMA



Then on display are 16 early works from Kruger's series of small and black framed pieces in which the artist experimented with visual code.



Kruger started her artistic career around 1969, but her signature text-over-image works came to the fore in the early 1980s. Since 1981, Kruger does not use her own pictures for artworks, but crops and edits archival photos and magazine images and then places her choices of words on the photos to convey her message.



The exhibition provides a rare chance to see some of the well-known phrases in its original artwork. Her earlier works are rather tiny compared to the impact of the words, which is about 15-20 centimeters tall.



Curator Kim explained that Kruger's works use the physical "paste-up" method. Upon close observation, visitors can see how the artist actually cut and pasted text onto the photographs and modified it with black pen.



Some of Kruger's texts are complementary to the image, while others conflict with the image, creating tension such as the text "Shame it Blame it" on an image of a needle hovering right above an eye.



As Kruger constantly sheds light on those who are underprivileged through her works, feminism is one of the artist's most important recurring themes. "Untitled (Your Body Is a Battleground)," which was used as a poster for the Women's March on Washington in 1989, supporting the right to choose an abortion, is on view at APMA.



Another work featuring the Korean alphabet is "Please laugh Please cry," which highlights forced emotions in modern society.





Barbara Kruger's "Untitled (The latest version of the truth)" / Courtesy of APMA