Kate Linker

I was super excited to get my hands on another Barbara Kruger art book, but this one was honestly such a disappointment that I don’t think I have anything positive to say about it. Based on its over-sized pages, I expected some fully immersive examples of Kruger’s art in all their maximal glory, but instead we get a text-heavy layout where the imagery is pushed to the margins and presented in far too small a size to make an impact. The images that are presented full-page are lovely by show more themselves, but their presentation leaves them separated from the textual analysis to such an extent they might as well stand alone. I maybe would have tolerated the disconnect between the text and images better if Kate Linker’s writing was more approachable, but she fills her commentary with so much elitist art-world jargon that her actual message is lost in the minutia. I honestly can’t recall a single concisely made point from the text, even though part of it is a basic biography of Kruger, so clearly the impact that she was hoping to make missed the mark. The book might call itself “Love for Sale” (after Kruger’s cover artwork), but there is little love to be found within the pages of this book… show less

Conjunction with the exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, December 10, 1986-January 10, 1988