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| The Cindy Sherman Effect by Phoebe Hoban |
Phoebe Hoban’s article discusses the creation of Sherman’s alter egos and its effect on the art world. It's described how “Cindy was one of the first to explore the idea of the malleability or fluidity of identity”. She represented more than just herself, not creating literal self portraits, but creating other selves to participate in her work. The idea of role playing with an identity can be a bit of a complex issue, as conforming to a stereotype can be a bit messy depending on what it is. At the same time, depicting a stereotype on purpose and pushing it to a very clear point can allow us to see the reality of the stereotype, its inaccuracies and flaws.
Cindy is described as putting “names to the stereotypes associated with women by making pictures of them”. In a sense, using the stereotype can be pushed against stereotypes, thus becoming transformative as well. Being able to see how wonky the stereotype is allows us to analyze it, or laugh at the silliness of it. The idea of role play can become even messier when it comes to role playing as.. another race for example.. but this wasn't called out for quite some time. Nonetheless, the influence of her work is prominent due to the experimental nature of the portraits and how these depictions can transfer not only to photography but also to paintings and performative works. Hoban goes on to discuss the artists who were directly inspired by Sherman. It references Catherine Opie and workz focused on gender identity, as “In the 1990s, she began taking pictures of herself and her lesbian friends in Los Angeles sporting obviously fake mustaches. In a later series, the transgender element became more nuanced”. Gender and sexuality were always confirmed to a binary structure that wasn't accepted with any difference. Today, our idea of gender is not only separate from sex, but also a fluid concept. Our sexualities are also identified to be more loose, as more and more people come out and express their identities. For quite some time, physical representations of gender have oftentimes been restricted to our assigned sexes, any variation in our appearance seeming odd or questionable. Now it's more socially acceptable to identify with gender fluidity, whether that be your gender identity, pronouns, attire, aesthetics or relationship to your sex and gender roles. The discussion of identity and role play visually is quite deep as many of us present ourselves in a way we want to be seen. Sometimes people can repress aspects of themselves due to being afraid of social ridicule, so experimenting and representing different groups more freely is definitely more authentic and inviting. Gender bending, also discussed briefly in the article, plays with the ideas of gender binary and has the potential to intentionally disrupt our perceptions.
New York Times - The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman
Parul Sehgal begins the article by alluding to the concept of mimicry within nature. The concept is survivalist, a distinct part of many living creatures who imitate other creatures as they are prey. The relation is made to Cindy Sherman’s transformative work as she depicts herself as different personas, a glimpse into a person she created and acts as within each photos story. Her work is speculated to have various meanings and readings, quite thought provoking for an audience. While some of her work is problematic, others are thought provoking and even dark. It's described how “Sherman herself is reluctant to discuss the meaning of her work; she is amused by the interpretive frenzy it provokes”. It must be an interesting experience to see masses of people interpret an artwork you've crafted. Sherman, like most artists, creates her work with or without direct intention, and lets it loose among the crowd. People get to pick apart each work and search for answers, interpretations and rationalizations for why she does what she does. Any artist has that aspect of vulnerability when publishing their work, a decision for silence is an interesting approach as an artist, as some people want to be able to project their thoughts vocally as well as visually. On the other hand, “her photographs have always had a strong narrative, an ability to suggest an entire psychology or story line in a single detail”. Sherman’s artworks are constructed in a way that she crafted not only the character she's depicting, but a sense of expression and narrative. I suppose she doesn't vocally speak out on her works because she doesn't HAVE to. The details within her work can be inferred. While an audience has the chance of misconstruing a narrative or misinterpreting something, that is still a way to experience the artwork. Some people might think an interpretation of their own art is completely wrong, while others are open to many possibilities. Her depictions can go for and against stereotypical perceptions of people, meeting a new person within each work. The discovery of her interests in dressing up and pretending to be other characters felt quite personal, and she turned that into something bigger.
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| Dismissal |
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| Untitled Film Still #30 |
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