Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman (born January, 19, 1954) is an American photography and film director. Sherman is best known for her conceptual portraits. Through a number of different series of works, Sherman her raised challenging and important questions about the role and representation of woman in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art.

Through a photographic series Untitled Film Stills, (1977-1980) Sherman achieved international recognition. The Untitled Film Stills consists of 69 black-and-white photographs. Sherman herself poses in different roles and settings, such as Italian neorealism, American Film Noir of the 1940s, 50s and 60s. The stills are untitled to preserve their ambiguity. Sherman uses herself as the model, her own props and her own apartment.

Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Stills

Cindy Sherman’s latest work is entitled, Art Patrons. Like almost all of Sherman’s work, she herself is her own model. Sherman wears layers of makeup, hairstyles, and rich wardrobe. The exhibition, which is untitled, features Sherman dressed as affluent woman in elaborate gowns and jewellery, set against backgrounds of lavish homes and gardens. The photograph is taken against a green screen and then digitally merged with the background photos which are shot separately.

Cindy Sherman - Art Patrons

In some ways these two series are very similar, Sherman in both uses herself as a model, the photographs are shot her self and she does her own makeup and props. But what is very different about these two works is are different they actually are. The Untitled Film Series are very raw, they seem so real. All the photographs look like they are snap shots from someone else’s life or they could even be stills from a film. Where as in Sherman’s latest series, Art Patrons they images looked so stages and so well thought out. Even though Untitled Film Stills are exactly that, it doesn’t seem so. Art Patrons’ are the complete opposite of the Untitled Film Stills in the way they portray the artists intended story. I like both series, but the Untitled Film Stills series would still have to be my favourite.