Went to the Cindy Sherman show yesterday at MoMA and it is brilliant. First of all MoMA has done another amazing job of staging a massive amount of work by one of the most creative and prolific photographers of our time. This is a huge show spanning several galleries on the 6th floor of the museum and everything from the flow of the work to the choices of wall color in the different galleries is exceptional, and as much as the museum shines, it’s the work that staggers the imagination. 

If you’re not familiar with Cindy Sherman’s work you will be pleasantly surprised to discover a new artist to admire, and if you are familiar with her work then this show will be a real treat for you. The crux of Sherman’s work is her ability to chronicle the lives of women from ALL walks of life using herself as the model. In the late 1970’s she became famous for a series of black and white photos that were made to look like movie stills. They spanned the gamut from film noir, to musicals, campy 60’s cinema, high art and bad dramas. Although no specific film is recreated the series of 70+ photographs are so perfectly created that you would thing you’ve seen these movies (which don’t exist). 

From Sherman’s work in the 80’s, the most powerful grouping is her Centerfold series. A collection of disturbing images created to look like the worst of the 70’s and 80’s “men’s magazines’. There is no nudity in these photographs and yet they convey a creepiness and exploitation of young women so dramatically that the use of nudity might have made the images less shocking. The fact that Sherman ONLY uses herself as the model for ALL her work is astonishing, but her ability to transform into all of these different women is simply mind blowing, and her attention to detail in creating these works is genius. 

There is too much work for me to really mention in detail but the show closes with her collection of Society Women. Here Sherman poses herself as women of means and a certain affluence, degenerating women who refuse to let go of youth that escaped them decades ago. The suggestion of horrible plastic surgery, over done botox treatments and opulent clothing bordering on comical, coupled with a chilling sense of entitlement and arrogance is picture perfect (no pun intended). When we were there yesterday afternoon the museum was filled with these women and I can not imagine what was going through their heads as they looked at these photographs that so expertly captured their own lives, that some F’d up shit! What makes all the work so great is Sherman’s gift of being able to capture the humor and horror of any situation, and treat both with equal respect. 

This is one of the best shows I’ve seen in a very long time, staged on such a large scale. Cindy Sherman is a brilliant artist, thankfully she is still working and turning out amazing work as a gift to us all. Please take the time to get to MoMA and witness this for yourself. 

CHEERS!!!
M 

If you’ve decided to read this you might be thinking to yourself, what the hell is this all about, is this guy really so self involved that he thinks people want to read whatever it is has to say? The answer is obviously, YES. But what am I going to say, well I’ll tell you. I have a lot of friends in the arts which isn’t a surprise to anyone, and as a working artist myself, i am exposed to a lot of creativity in many forms. I attend plays written or directed or acted by friends and acquaintances. I go to many art openings, some just to check out what’s getting shown in the galleries and others specifically because an artist or photographer friend is showing. I go to live music events featuring friends (or a relative, but he doesn’t need my help! LOL) or sometimes it’s just a concert by someone famous. I have an opinion on all of these things and I want to make them known. Maybe for no other reason than trying to bring a little more exposure for myself and my friends. I also really want too be able to share my thoughts on something if I think it’s great and more importantly I really want a platform to call out shit if I think something is shit, and thatsthe real fun of something like this. So thats the basic idea behind it all. I should let you all know that I am very wise and nosey and I love to dole out advice so if you’ve got a question about anything at all and need someone to talk to and hope they offer you the advice and wisdom that comes with a lifetime of success and failure, ask away!!!