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| Cute wears for the Eccentric |
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| Photo Used: Cindy Sherman Untitled #392, 1976 |
The Cindy Sherman Effect by Phoebe Hoban for ArtNews
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Says Frajndlich, “What Cindy did, starting with the ‘Film Stills,’ is she realized the degree to which the stills used to promote cinema influenced the way people portrayed themselves, and she saw it as pure theater. That’s what I see as one of her great strengths—the theatrics of camera vision. And she played it out incredibly, and then she just used that as the stepping-stone to take it further and further and further out. So much of her work is performance, so much is improvisation, so much is theater. I am sure there are all kinds of people who look at Cindy as their god.”Response: I’m intrigued by her
considering her work a form of theatrics. Typically, when I think of photographs, I don’t associate it with theater. Yet this connection between photography and theater is quite apparent when you think about it. Many photos, even the less professional ones, are just performances we put on to get a certain vibe or atmosphere right. Truly the only photos that are not theatrical are the ones we take spontaneously of ourselves or of people/environment. In theses photos we don’t think about changing what we wear, how we look, or where we are, we just take the photo as it is.
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Perhaps the world’s most self-effacing artist (literally and figuratively), Sherman refuses to take any credit for her innovations. What has she herself discovered through her work? “I think it has made me realize that we’ve all chosen who we are in terms of how we want the world to see us,” she says.
True to form, Sherman’s approach remains modestly low tech. Although her most recent work relies on Photoshop to subtly alter her face, provide intricate backgrounds, or even clone similar personae within a single piece, “I still like the idea of challenging myself through the more hands-on methods, only because I think it’s more challenging when you are limited,” Sherman says.
Response: I am surprised at how humble she is considering how popular her artwork is in the art world. She truly sees herself as someone who is just working an art form not some pioneer of it like people around her think. This is even apparent in her use of “low tech” items to achieve a variety of effects in her photos which she could use modern technology for. Even at her high position and fame she still acts like herself towards the beginning of her career she is at the core the same person.
New York Times | The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman
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But Sherman is vocal, even prickly, about one point. The photographs are not self-portraits, nor do they depict her fantasies. She uses herself because it’s simpler, she says. She can push herself harder than any model, and she can avoid small talk.
Response: I agree that theses photographs are not self-portraits of Cindy Sherman and that they are not entirely fanciful a phantasm. Theses photographs are not about the subject of Cindy Sherman but of other people who may or may not exist now. But could of in the past or perhaps the future. As such they are not “fantasies” but as I see a look into the infinite possibilities of how people look, act and present themselves. Also, it is interesting how she does not work with anyone really but herself. It may be easier to create these characters as she likely has the image of them in her head and how she wants them to appear.
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She has worked alone since then, with her camera and mirror and prosthetics. “Nobody’s here but me,” she says, in the documentary of that name. We see glimpses of her at work — trying on costumes in front of a mirror, dancing a bit. She sits on the floor and fusses with a male medical mannequin. “He’s got a nice face,” she says; then, in a low, happy voice, “and his teeth come out.”
Response: Although many people may associate working alone with a sense of sadness or loss, Cindy Sherman appears to revel in this state of aloneness. Perhaps she works best alone. Being able to create such imaginary people may perhaps require no external input from “real people”. Perhaps she needs this space to create someone who could be without it being tainted by what is other around her.
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