BARBARA KRUGER
On 1 November 2007, Mary Boone Gallery will open at its Fifth Avenue location an exhibition of the “Picture/Readings” works from 1978 by BARBARA KRUGER.
Reflecting that era’s captivation with photography as forthright, Conceptual ideology, and feminist consciousness, the “Picture/Readings” presage the iconic photo/text works for which Kruger would become known.
In these stark early works, Kruger places a single image alongside a panel of text. The photographs, shot by Kruger in California and Florida, depict from a passer-by’s viewpoint unremarkable details – windows, corners, gables, roof overhangs – of residential architecture. The occasional intrusion of a palm or other tropical vegetation provides the only sense of place. Equally detached in its casual typewritten appearance and tone is the accompanying text: Kruger has written a narrative which recounts the incidental urgencies and activities of the buildings’ imagined inhabitants. The “Picture/Readings” posit that by looking (the province of photography) richly varied internal spaces may be revealed.
The exhibition, at 745 Fifth Avenue, will run through 22 December 2007. Please contact the Gallery if we can be of further assistance, or visit our website www.maryboonegallery.com.
