From TikTok to taxis—Barbara Kruger makes her mark in London

The US artist Barbara Kruger has hit London town with an impressive show at the Serpentine South gallery in Kensington Gardens entitled Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You(until 17 March). New Jersey-born Kruger began developing her trademark bold photo and text collages in 1977, confronting the viewer with provocative retorts such as “My beliefs are short and sweet”. Naturally there are plenty of her trademark maxims on view in the Serpentine show including the famed Untitled (I shop therefore I am) (1987). Meanwhile savvy Kruger is reaching out to the TikTok generation with a new effect created for the social media platform that overlays some of her most recognisable phrases—We are not what we seem—on to everyday scenes (ironically she told us in 2021: “Thank God I’m an artist and not an internet or TikTok or movie star.”) But we like especially the three London cabs emblazoned with ads for the Kruger show which will no doubt turn heads going down the Mall (the words I Mean Me. I Mean You might even cause a pile-up or marital spat).