Weekly Obsession - Cindy Sherman's Retrospective

I found Cindy Sherman's art, like most of my most satisfying life discoveries, through the amazing John Waters. There's something about a beautiful woman mucking herself up that's very interesting to me - obviously Mr. Waters feels similarly. Sherman has spent years transforming herself with makeup, costumes, and prosthetics to create a continuous exploration and questioning of the individual self. Her retrospective started at the New York MOMA on February 26th and runs until June 11th. It then travels to San Francisco, Minneapolis, and Dallas. FYI Locals - SF show is July 14th to October 7th.

For me the most exciting thing about her work is that Sherman always was the subject of her photos but at the same time wasn't. Her makeup, costumes, and plastic body parts created a vague but universal portrait of someone else - both anyone and everyone. Her photos are all comments about humanity not herself. Even during the 1980s when her work became very dark, I felt like it was equally influenced both by the personal matter of her divorce and the very public matter of personal shame and fear caused by the outbreak of AIDS.

Until reading the press on her current exhibit, I was not familiar with one of Sherman's earliest series, "Untitled Film Stills." These photos ring of a much subtler and even vaguer female transformation. There's no obvious female film types - no Gidget riding a wave or Honey Ryder nurse. This collection of ambiguous females seem to channel the Hitchcock heroines but aren't exact reproductions. They do not reference specific movies, roles or even stereotypes but of that nameless allure of celebrity and Hollywood. I'm excited to see what other new hidden treasures I will find in her work.