Blog - Cindy Sherman Has No Interest in Traditional Art

2008-07-29 23:00:03

Cindy Sherman The self-portrait has been a crucial expressive tool throughout artistic history. In our day, possibly no other artist has quite mastered this device as thoroughly as Cindy Sherman. Born in 1954 in New Jersey, Sherman's formal exploration of the arts began when she arrived at the State University College at Buffalo to study painting. There, she quickly became frustrated with what she perceived as the limitations of painting, and turned to photography instead. Together with Robert Longo and other fellow artists, she founded Hallwalls in 1974 as an exhibition space that would be welcoming to their explorations. Moving to New York City in 1976, Cindy Sherman began to take pictures of herself in settings inspired by the archetypical roles of B-movie stars. All of these images are named "Untitled." She studiously avoids any hint that could link them to her own personality. Subsequent self-portraits have used other conceptual settings as backdrop. From 1985 to 1989, Sherman chose settings with lurid colors, frequently littered with disgusting objects in a series known as "Disasters and Fairy Tales." From 1988 to 1990, she sets herself within cliches derived from famous paintings from the history of art. A more recent series from 2003 places her in the roles of multiple clowns. She has also used dolls and prosthetic body parts as stand-ins for herself, most famously in the graphically explicit series known as "Sex Pictures". In addition to her photographic work, Cindy Sherman has ventured into cinematography, directing the movie Office Killer, and playing herself in John Waters' photography story, Pecker. OVTV Program info and video: Cindy Sherman: Nobody's Here But Me
Related Links: Official Cindy Sherman Website Books by Cindy Sherman - Google List TATE magazine interview (with photos in her studio) Quote: The still must tease with the promise of a story the viewer of it itches to be told.


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