Cindy Sherman

Art is a field that has no boundaries when it comes to creativity, however when taking an artist such as Cindy Sherman, such boundaries may be questioned. Cindy Sherman has managed to portray art in a light that includes acting, art, and her own personal identity in one. Though her work of art may not be considered beautiful by many, she manages to portray her views on society, by not only using disrespectful and disturbing images, also by allowing these to be presented in the public as her views. She has spent much her time dealing with close friends who have suffered from AIDS, cases of sexual harassment, bulimia, etc. and has managed to show her personal political views on such cases through her art. Cindy Sherman’s “sex pictures” collection, it was produced between the years of 1992 and 1994. Since Sherman’s childhood she has had a fascination for dolls as well as participating in games of dress up. She began to worry that she was becoming too dependent on herself as a model, therefore she decided to remove herself from her photographs and use pros ethic body parts, in order to make materials that reinforce the message that she was trying to evoke. Sherman became more interested in the basics of what these pros ethic body parts can do in the essence of a photograph. One can depict figures created from a jumble of pros ethics, which include a disembodied, legless, a mask of an old scary looking woman and fabric. Also, she added makeup and pubic hair to the plasticized, hairless medical dolls in order to make them more diverse and lifelike. In her images, Sherman is fulfilling her goal; she is “playing on our disgust with old age and sexuality, without pushing us to ask ourselves why we are so disgusted.” Her photographs show her belief in the world of sexuality whether it being straight, gay, lesbian or transgender should be glorified rather than fought against. AIDS also had a big influence on most of her “sex pictures.” She works with painting, sculptors, film, installation, performance, collage and assemblage.
            Sherman’s work may be considered rather simple to an average eye, however when actually observing the art and the true meanings behind it, the complexity and difficulty behind her work becomes apparent. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, the spread and concern of AIDS became drastic. She was living in New York City at the time, a place where many queers would join together to elaborate on their sexual desires. Through her experiences in New York, Sherman managed to create an incredibly influential and vulgar collection, know as “Sex Pictures.” The artist refers to her work as “angry art,” as she is very much aware of the fact that many people respond negatively to her over exposed and exaggerated photographs. A lot of Sherman’s friends had suffered from AIDS and discrimination due to same sex relationships. She has witnessed several of her close friends suffer physically and emotionally under such stress. Thus, she felt as though she owed a form of solidarity to those individuals who she thinks haven’t received enough recognition.            The postmodernism presented within Sherman’s work has been debated greatly amongst several art historians. In most of her photographs, Sherman is trying to create a sense of the subjective individual as well as a sense of ones self. The first thing is that her photographs break down the wall of the subject-object boundaries, and the second thing is that the subject photographed has become framed and mixed in its gender and material makeup. Through this Sherman is creating a vague line between a man and a woman. All of Sherman’s photographs are inspired by female identity, however historians keep on asking the same question, “Who is the real Cindy Sherman?” No one can seems to be able to tell, due to her photographs not exposing only her personal identity. Thus, her images don’t represent anyone in specific, but they represent the nature of identity of the “real” popular culture within her eyes.
Through researching much of Sherman’s work and history, it has become clear to me that she falls far from what society what accept as normal. She was able to look beyond these categories implemented by society and attempted to act herself. The artist believed that society has created very strict roles for both gender roles; therefore, when falling outside one of the two gender norms, one faces an automatic inequality in society. In addition, many of Sherman’s friends are queer, and as a queer individual rights in society get taken away from you. Through much experience of being exposed to oppressed behavior, Sherman allowed herself to create her “sex pictures” collection. Although she may be considered as “horrific, weird and disturbing” she has fulfilled her goal as an artist. Her aim through her artwork was to shock people by exaggerating the “norms of society”. She wanted to create a realization that several individuals fall outside of what is considered to be normal and stress to her audience that everyone should have the right to their own identity. Sherman clarifies her aims as she says, “If I disgusted you, then I did my job.