Barbara Kruger: Untitled (Shafted)

About

Barbara Kruger’s Untitled (Shafted) features her distinctive use of advertising text and sharp, poetic phrases that criticize consumerism, misogyny, power, and desire. Commissioned by LACMA in 2008, this monumental installation occupies the full elevator shaft of BCAM and utilizes the architecture to a powerful end. While visitors wait for the elevator to arrive—on any of the three floors—they are visually bombarded with messages about consumption and consumerism. Beginning at the top, the George Orwell quote “If you want a PICTURE of the future, imagine a boot stomping on a human face, forever” is emblazoned amid an image of a man’s eyes. Then a litany of common products run the length of the shaft and are bisected by the phrase “PLENTY SHOULD BE ENOUGH—RIGHT?” Vibrant red punctuated with bands of black and white text grant Kruger’s work a commercial-savvy punch that aims right at the heart of society’s power structures.