Over the years I have looked into Cindy Sherman as a
photographer and an artist. Her confidence to turn the camera on herself is
quite inspiring. Even though she does not photograph herself as herself, she
creates dramatic roles of women in the modern world. Her portrayal of women
shows Sherman dressed up in wigs, piles of make-up and clothes that are
impartial to her style. These unique and abstract images continued from 1985 –
1989. I truly believe that this was her best work. Her minimalistic but stylish
photographs have a sense of elegance and want to view more. The low angled
shots and indirect mode of address generates an emotional connection towards
the audience.
After this period of beauty from Cindy Sherman her work
seemed to rapidly go downhill, smashing into scenes of deformity and sexual
references. She had a segment of work called, ‘Disasters and Fairy Tales’ which would show her strewn over the
floor covered in vile substances. It just shows pure darkness, horror and unease for the viewer. The use of blue and green colours interprets
a cold and harsh environment. A massive change from elegant images to disgusting
scenes. Even though I think that this period of Sherman’s work was one of her
worst, nothing prepared me for her next body of work.
Her next series of photos were called, ‘Sex Pictures’. Instead of using herself in her photographs,
Sherman took a different approach by using dolls and prosthetic body parts
positioned in highly sexual and erotic positions. Not only do these mannequins
look intensely disturbing but most of them have been positioned outside in a
harsh environment. These images do convey quite a distressing feeling. I for
one have always admired Cindy Sherman until she moved on to create images that generally
terrify me. Where has the simplistic elegance gone?
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