As previously mentioned, I am constantly getting inspiration from the works of Cindy Sherman, specifically her set of Film Stills 1977-1980. Sherman has influenced many tableaux photographers and has become iconic in the movement of feminism. Sherman is an American photographer and film director, known for her conceptual portraits. She was born in 1954 finding her feet in photography in the 70s when she produced her first set of Film Stills. Sherman works in series, usually photographing herself in a wide range of different costumes and makeup changing her identity to create a new persona for each photograph. She will often shoot alone in her studio not knowing exactly what images she wants to produce, she will assume multiple roles and is the author, director, makeup artist, hairstylist, fashion designer and model.
Sherman’s website: http://www.cindysherman.com
Sherman’s MoMA page: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1997/sherman/
In the past I have gained a lot of inspiration from Sherman’s Film Stills and am still finding inspiration from these images. I like the idea that Sherman looks different in every image and she becomes a new persona each time. I want to use this for my own experimentation and be able to tell a story myself by becoming each character and looking different in each image. I think that her work is very strong and there is always something going on. Sherman tends to find humour in types of people and she will mimic them within her work and exaggerate certain traits that they have. I find this very interesting as Sherman does not care if she offends people and will just do to make for some good images. A theme that I’ve noticed with Sherman’s work is that she uses a lot of makeup and props to change the shape of her body as well as many wigs. I really like this as she is able to tell so many different stories within her work as a tableau photographer.
New York Times Sherman review: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/arts/design/cindy-sherman-at-museum-of-modern-art.html?_r=0
“Cindy Sherman represents everything that is wrong with the contemporary art world.” – Bloomberg Business review
I think that Sherman really stands out in the photography world and has really furthered public knowledge of the unfair advantages and disadvantages faced with men and women. Sherman tends to focus in on the stereotypes of women and she likes to recreate a persona of a person she has possibly seen and exaggerates them to make for more impact and to stand out against other photographs. I really like this concept as she is showing spectators the problems within our own society of how we treat women and how we expect them to be. I think that it is so wrong that women have one set of rules while men have another, it is unfair for both parties as we are all human we all share the same kind of emotions and yet our gender seems to have an effect on the way we show those emotions and the way we treat others. Sherman’s work is very strong and bold, she doesn’t tend to hold back at all and has many over the top nude photographs where she creates a new persona and she makes her own props of different parts of the female anatomy to make for a more interesting photograph. I believe Sherman uses nudes within her work as a way of showing what society expects of women and I can also link this to many painting where women are used as objects to be seen and painted as sexual figures.
Bloomberg Business review of Sherman: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-02-27/cindy-sherman-self-portraits-offer-empty-entertainment-review
This image really shows the cliches faced with women perfectly. The subject is looking glamorous wearing a pretty skirt and makeup while picking up the grocery shopping showing how women are, within society, expected to do all of the cooking, cleaning and household chores while still looking good. I think that this is a strong images as Sherman’s facial expression doesn’t look pleased at all, she looks very miserable as if she doesn’t want to be doing all of the household work. This image shows how society has treated women in the past and how it still treats them to this day. Spectators are able to see how women are represented unfairly and what are expected of women yet not expected of men. I really like this image as it is very strong and shows the strain put on women within our society. I just really like this image and the way it looks with all of the props and the position of the subject is really interesting to me. I love Sherman’s work showing the cliches women faced in the 70s and it shows just how many of those that women still face today. It is interesting to see how little has changed since the 70s and how women are still perceived in the same way and still face the same unfair expectations.
Another image that I find very interesting is the one above. I really like this image as Sherman is posing almost like a Femme Fatale from film Noir films. She looks like a damsel in distress and needs a man to come and save her. Sherman shows the spectator the expectation of women having to look glamorous all of the time and ready to do anything that her man wants her to. This image is very interesting as it shows the cliches faced by women, like all of Sherman’s photographs. I really like this image because it is obviously staged and something that you would expect to see when someone is mocking another person as a damsel in distress. This photograph interests me as the subject is wearing somewhat provocative clothing and posing in such a way that the spectator would think that she ‘was asking for it’ even though no matter what the woman looks like or is wearing she is never asking for it. I think that this is a strong image and interesting to look at.
I love this image. There is something about this photograph that really draws me in and makes me want to analyse it further to learn more about it. The lights in the background of this image draw me in as you would usually expect those kind of lights to be behind the camera not in front of it. I like that the subject is looking directly into the camera with only her head as the rest of her body is facing away from it, this seems as if she was possibly sitting on the floor with those big lights doing her makeup and then turned around to look because she was being disturbed. I know that Sherman makes all of her photographs without a clear plan as to what she wants but only a clear plan on who she wants to be. Sherman makes her images alone in her studio yet it doesn’t look that way and every photo is different and unique in itself. I like the subjects outfit, it looks as though she is getting ready for a night out or possibly to do a performance. One of my favourite photos from Sherman’s film stills, there is nothing specific about it I just really find it interesting to look at and I enjoy looking at it. Something that I also noticed about Sherman’s Film Stills is that they are all in black and white, much to do with the time she had a film camera in the 70s where colour hadn’t been introduced yet but they look really awesome and it just adds more atmosphere and effect to the image. The spectator is able to focus in on the subject and what she is doing rather than getting distracted by all of the lights and colours surrounding her.