An Artist Who Cannot Speak English Is No Artist 1992

This banner was created by Mladen Stilinovic, and I'm interested in how Stilinovic used text as image. There’s something about that pink ground with the graphic lettering that feels both handmade and urgent. It's a simple banner, clearly made of fabric. The material looks quite light. The texture in the background is almost like a commercial sign, but the drips and inconsistencies in the black lettering remind us that it's handcrafted. Note how the NO is picked out in red. The slight messiness and almost amateur quality make the whole statement feel both aggressive and vulnerable. The overall effect is provocative. You can see echoes of artists like Barbara Kruger here, but where Kruger's work has a commercial slickness, Stilinovic's banner feels more personal, perhaps more desperate. It's a challenging piece, raising questions about the art world, language, and power.