RESEARCH: CINDY SHERMAN

'American photographer. She studied art at Buffalo State College (1972–6), concentrating on photography, which she maintained is the appropriate medium of expression in our media-dominated civilisation. Her photographs are portraits of herself in various scenarios that parody stereotypes of woman. A panoply of characters and settings is drawn from sources of popular culture: old movies, television soaps and pulp magazines. Sherman rapidly rose to celebrity status in the international art world during the early 1980s with the presentation of a series of untitled ‘film stills' in various group and solo exhibitions across America and Europe. Among 130 ‘film stills' taken between 1978 and 1980 are portraits of Sherman in the role of such screen idols as Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe. While the mood of Sherman's early works ranges from quiet introspection to provocative sensuality, there are elements of horror and decay in the series from 1988–9. Studies from the early 1990s make pointed caricatures of characters depicted through art history, with Sherman appearing as a grotesque creature in period costume. Her approach forms an ironic message that creation is impossible without the use of prototypes; identity lies in appearance, not in reality. In this, the artist has assimilated, even while retaining a critical stance, the visual tyranny of television, advertising and magazines. Works are held in the Tate Gallery, London, and the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC, as well as in the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan and Brooklyn museums, New York.' Source - Tate


I will be looking into self portraits and thought a great place to start would be with the work of Cindy Sherman. Although her work is portraits of herself, they are not always defined as self portraits as they don't necessarily show things relating to her personally. She chooses to portray things within her images that relate to different issues within modern world. Even though some people wouldn't see this as self portraiture specifically, it could also be seen as this as she is making the decisions as to how she will be seen in the images - much like the subjects within my images. I don't know what they will be, they could all be normal images of people smiling but there could be a few more elaborate ones in there, dressed up like Sherman's. They might try and portray someone else within the image, but honestly - I won't know. It will be down to interpretation as there is very little information that will be able to go with my images.

Sherman tries to depersonalize her images by naming them Untitled, or as a number to take away from the emotional attachment to the imagery, leaving it solely to the image to portray what she wants.





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