Time & Perspective Quote by Barbara Kruger

Kruger’s list starts like a polite nod to pop culture and ends as a quiet power grab: the real engine of influence isn’t the canon, it’s the mundane. That pivot matters because it undercuts the glamour economy that usually frames artistic “inspiration” as something you consume in curated doses. Yes, movies, music, TV - the predictable holy trinity of modern reference. Then she swivels to “most importantly” and crowns “the profound everydayness of our lives,” turning what art culture treats as background noise into the main text.

The phrasing is classic Kruger in spirit even when it’s not in her trademark bold type: plain, accessible language that smuggles in an ideological challenge. “Everydayness” sounds neutral, but it’s loaded. It points to the structures that shape us before we ever have a taste: gendered scripts, consumer rituals, media saturation, the way power hides in routine. Calling it “profound” isn’t sentimentality; it’s a critique of how easily the ordinary gets dismissed precisely because it’s where institutions do their most efficient work. Norms don’t need to shout.

Contextually, this sits comfortably inside Kruger’s long-running project: exposing how images and slogans train desire, obedience, and identity. By placing daily life above entertainment media, she refuses the convenient idea that influence is optional, like a playlist. Influence is atmospheric. The subtext is bracing: if you want to understand art - or politics - stop pretending the “real world” begins after the screen goes dark.