During the field trip to New York
City I spent the majority of my day exploring the Museum of Modern Art from
bottom to top. I spent a lot of time
looking through all of the photographs in the Cindy Sherman exhibition on the
sixth floor of the museum. Cindy
Sherman is a very well recognized contemporary artist. She is known for working as her own
model and dressing herself up in a large range of disguises and characters;
some are seen as amusing, while others are absolutely disturbing. The exhibition traces the career of
Sherman from the mid 1970s to the present. As soon as I entered this
exhibition, which is scattered throughout multiple rooms and taking up the
entire sixth floor, I knew this artist’s work would be what I would write about
for class. The large range of
characters she dressed up as in the more than 170 photographs was mesmerizing. One of the first photographs I saw
entering the exhibition was a larger than life image of Sherman dressed in an
extravagant turquoise robe standing outside on a covered patio with intricate
archways of stone near a garden (Untitled
#466); I couldn’t stop staring at the image and wondering who this
character was. Another image that caught my eye at the exhibition was Untitled #94, which is an image of a
woman reclining. I have chosen to
discuss what makes up each of these two individual images in order to show the
differences in both the positioning of the woman figure and the translation the
viewer makes of each.
Untitled #466 (1981) is a chromogenic color print that was
protected within a thick frame and glass; it is the only image on a wall placed
in the center of the first room you enter into of the exhibition giving it a
prominent position. The photograph
was 8’ 1 1/8” by 63’ 15/16”. The
photograph shows in the foreground a woman with aged white hair pulled back
tightly into a neat bun. She is
clearly posing for the photo as she stands at an angle with her right hand on
her hip and her left hand lightly placed on her chest. She is wearing extravagant jewelry,
including large gold chandelier earrings and multiple rings, and heavy eye
makeup. Although the background is
blurred because of the choice of f-stop, you can still make out the archway and
columns, as well as the garden and potted plant across the way between two of
the columns. The image of the
woman and the background were taken separately. Sherman shot herself using a green screen and then later
inserted her image onto this backdrop, which is actually an image of the
Cloisters in New York City. This
woman is clearly an aristocrat and her facial expression and the way she poses
for the camera shows that she is a proud individual. When you first look at this image you see this woman as
being very well put together; someone who has it all. However, when looking deeper into the image, which the large
scale allows, you notice other details, such as signs of her aging, which
causes you to think differently and see the reality that lurks underneath. Her right foot is seen coming out of
the slit in the bottom of her robe. She is wearing cheap pink plastic slippers
with thick stockings. The
perfection of this woman is diminished when the viewer looks closer into the
image. This image is used as a
comment on how the fixation of status and youth are very much important in
culture today.
Untitled #94 is part of Cindy Sherman’s centerfold series. This image is 2’ by 4’ which, at the
time of its creation, was extremely large for photography. This image as well was protected by a
frame, thinner than the one used for Untitled
#466, and glass. It was placed
on a wall in a room with all twelve of the images that make up the Centerfolds
series. The
scale allows the viewer to submerge him or herself into the image. The image is completely in focus and is
horizontal, which relates to a centerfold found in men’s magazines featuring erotic
photographs. The woman looks as if
she is daydreaming and she is not looking at the camera. She is in a reclined position, leaning
back on her elbows with her knees up and her hair tousled giving you a sexual
feeling about the pose. Cindy
Sherman made this image of a woman lying there in a more feminine realm. The images were going to be used in a
magazine as centerfolds, but it was later decided that they would be
misunderstood. Sherman wanted to make you feel uncomfortable as the viewer during
the time you initially viewed a woman lying there. She wanted you, as the viewer, to feel as if you did not
want to invade the private moment that was taking place.
Both images are of
women, but are completely different takes on the female figure. The first image discussed is to show
the importance of status and youth in today’s culture, while the second is
putting a crazy twist on the idea of a pinup girl in a centerfold. Sherman, in my opinion, through both
images was successful in creating the mood and translation I was told she was
trying to produce.
Untitled #466
Untitled #94
No comments:
Post a Comment