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| Photographed by Jonah Rivas |
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| Cindy Sherman Gallery Two |
Black and white photography has always been something that attracted my attention. The feel, look, and meaning behind a black and white picture has mystery and causes the observer to question it. The lack of color, distant look, and off guard pose create incredible beauty in almost any scene it is taken in. The photograph can be old, modern, or styled differently to provide a different aura per photograph. The selfie I selected was taken just a few years ago when beginning my college career. My friend decided to pursue film at Montclaire State University and was tasked with taking natural pictures and nature. He requested that I wore no makeup, did not fix my hair, or even fix my eyebrow hair. He seeked to portray natural beauty as much as he could using a camera that only shot photographs in black and white.
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| Cindy Sherman Gallery Two |
Viewing Cindy Sherman’s photography automatically reminded me of this photo shoot that we did and contained similar characteristics. Her gallery revealed to me that although she did a lot of impersonations, created new looks, and used Photoshop she continued to keep her work as natural, unique, and simple as possible. In 1977 at the age of 23, Sherman’s second gallery of photos began and came to be known as her famous “Untitled Film Stills”. This gallery continued until 1980, containing about 70 photos that are incredibly original and influenced art for decades to come. The characters in this photos seem to resemble those in movie sets, stereotypical woman roles of the 1960’s, and popular Hollywood themes of the time. When analyzing the photographs, an observation is that although they seem familiar, they are actually completely made of her imagination. Her poses, makeup, and characters were uniquely created with a different meaning as well.
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| Cindy Sherman Gallery Two |
The entire collection represents different themes such as a housewife, a working girl, or a vampire. As a whole, they represent different ways the world is perceived through the characters, scenarios, and themes of each photograph. This gallery is very significant because it portrays the nature of our culture, the creation of different characters, and how the media makes such an enormous impact in our lives. Sherman began taking pictures and experimenting with photography at a very young age seeking to provide her audience with different perspectives of fictional characters. Using drama, mystery, and darkness in some of the photos to draw in her audience, and other artists who have been inspired by her work.
Sherman's work is fascinating and has influenced many people such as Jillian Mayer, Ryan Trecartin, and Nikki S. Lee who have also created new looks, impersonated others, and used role play in their work. It is amazing the impact her work has done and how far it has gone. She has been recognized by many other artists and curators such as the Whitney Museum curator Donna De Salvo, Abe Frajndlich, and Julie Heffernan. Her work has also inspired painters, female artists, and males as well such as John Currin. Many artists have come before Sherman and impacted art history, but Sherman connects painting and art in a way that had not been done before. The most unique aspect of her technique is that she continues to use very low technology and does not heavily Photoshop her work, which is far more challenging than just creating an image on a computer.
Bibliography
- Moma. “Cindy Sherman.” MoMA | Cindy Sherman, Moma, www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/#/2/.
- “The Cindy Sherman Effect.” ARTnews, 6 Aug. 2012, www.artnews.com/2012/02/14/the-cindy-sherman-effect/.
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