CINDY SHERMAN
Cindy Sherman, full name Cynthia Morris Sherman (1954, Glen Ridge, New Jersey, USA), is known for her images - in particular her elaborately ‘masked’ self-portraits - that comment on social role-play and sexual stereotypes. Cindy Sherman grew up on Long Island, New York. In 1972, she enrolled at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and majored in painting, before turning to photography. She graduated from SUNY in 1976 and in 1977 started working on ‘Untitled Film Stills’ (1977-80), one of her most famous series. These are 8×10 inch black and white photographs that feature the artist portrayed in a variety of roles reminiscent of film noir and present viewers with an ambiguous depiction of women as sexual objects. Sherman stated that the series is about ‘the falseness of role-playing and contempt for the overbearing “male” audience who would mistakenly read the images as sexy’. She continued to be the ‘model’ in her photographs, wearing wigs and costumes that evoked images taken from the worlds of advertising, television, film and fashion. During the 1980s, she began using colour film, exhibiting large prints and focusing more on lighting and facial expression.
+ 01 UNTITLED (LUCILLE BALL), 1975 (2001), Fujicolor Cristal Archive print, cm 25,8x20,7
+ 02 UNTITLED (CLAUDE CAHUN), 1975 (2004), gelatin silver salts tampa, cm 25x20 (image cm 17,5x11)
+ 03 UNTITLED (MARYLIN MONROE), 1982, chromographic printing, cm 39,4x23,2
