Barbara Kruger’s work is famous for pairing bold text slogans in red boxes with found black and white images (famously the inspiration for the Supreme box logo). Her work is explicitly feminist, anti-consumerist; it deals in desire, lust, greed, power, identity, modernity, sexuality. All of which makes her the perfect choice to create the cover for New York Magazine‘s special election issue, to coincide with the presidential election next week on November 8.
The cover is classic Kruger: a black and white image of a scowling Trump, lips pursed in vitriol, with Barbara’s box text emblazoning the word “LOSER” over him. It’s not just a simple protest image, though; as New York Magazine‘s Editor-in-Chief Adam Moss explains, the image can be taken in many different ways.
“We were drawn to it, in part, for the three ways in which it could be interpreted,” he said: “As Trump speaking (single word epithets being his specialty); as a description of Trump; and as a call on the election result… We felt that the power of Kruger’s image transcended any one meaning you could read into it.”
The issue hits newsstands today.
Credits
Text Felix Petty