THE SEARCH FOR THE AUTHENTIC SUBJECT AND THE INAUTHENTIC SELF
an attempt to think about Cindy Sherman's brilliance and failures
By Brianna Kalajian
 |
| ©Cindy Sherman/Untitled #216 |
I am bewildered by Cindy Sherman or as the ads for SFMOMA proudly trumpet, “one of the most influential photographers of our time.” Sherman has been the subject, or, more accurately, the focal point of her large and growing body of work. She has cornered the market on self-portraiture and has become a strange merging of both artist and brand, one of the most recognizable figures in contemporary art. Her work has been building on itself from the beginning, but she has gone through some radical shifts in approach. The layout and chronology of the show helps us see how Sherman has always been essentially Sherman, but also how she has changed to become possibly more of Sherman the personality and less of Sherman the artist. It’s fascinating to see how the “Film Stills” series fro the late 70’s and 80’s inform and contrast with her later work, especially the series “Society” (2008), where she depicts and satirizes high society art matrons, sorry patrons, in a variety of power poses. Although thirty years separates these two series, the contrast illuminates some of the most striking issues about Sherman’s fame and work. This exhibition was an incredible opportunity to see the breadth and depth of Sherman’s approach and I should say, changing approach to the reflected self.
