Wk 11 — Artist OTW — Student Choice
Artist: Cindy Sherman
Media: photography
About the Artist: Cynthia Morris Sherman (Cindy Sherman) was born January 19, 1954 and is the youngest of five in her family. She was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey but she grew up in Huntington, Long Island. There, her father worked as an engineer and her mother was an educator for children with learning disabilities. In 1972, Cindy enrolled in the visual arts program at Buffalo State College. While there, she mainly worked on paintings. During this time she also fell in love with thrift shopping and dressing up in costume. She later found too many limitations when working with paint and switched over to photography. With her photography, she takes self-portraits of her dressed up in costume portraying how women are seen in television and media.
Formal Analysis: In her series, Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980), it is made up of black and white photographs of Cindy dressed up as a character. With her characters, she would depict how women were primarily seen in television. For example, in one photograph she is dressed as a candy striper. In this photo, it has more of a sepia tone than a black and white one. The subject is centered in the middle and fills up most of the composition. The background is blurred in order to have the subject in the foreground stand out more to the human eye.
Content Analysis: Her main goal with her work is to portray the stereotypes of women found in entertainment media. But, she would add a twist. She distorts femininity as a social construct. From afar her pieces may appear to be colorful and seductive but as you come closer you realize that is not the case. Going back to the candy striper photo, the look on Cindy’s face appears to be content. However, the more you look at it the more you realize that may just be a facade, and is a face put on to appear she is fine when she is not. Almost like she’s putting up a front.
Synthesis/My Experience: I really enjoyed learning about Cindy’s work. I like how she decided to use the stereotypes in television and distort them in order to create a larger picture. With her black and white pieces she was able to keep it simple but still impactful. I have had an interest in photography in recent past. After seeing her work, I may pick up that hobby again some time.
