https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Nnz-bQD-OoBHVzXkoSPjIzqbDLrtZItj56R-aMmwfIw/edit#slide=id.g2b54a02a1f4_0_73
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Cindy Sherman
The Cindy Sherman Effect - Phoebe Hoban
“So much of her work is performance, so much is improvisation, so much is theater. I am sure there are all kinds of people who look at Cindy as their god.”
I never send any of her work but from looking at her series, and coming from a performance background I can see the art, performance, and theater witching her work, the way it stands out and distort from any other photographer was really interesting to me
“The art world was ready for something new, something beyond painting. A group of mostly women happened to be the ones to sort of take that on, partly because they felt excluded from the rest of the [male] art world, and thought, ‘Nobody is playing with photography. Let’s take that as our tool.’”
It’s hard for the male gaze to except the fact that women are capable than just being a house wife and obeys their husbands but in reality most of the men in history were taken credit for anything a women invented, created, or wrote. No matter how hard they try to keep women out of the eyes of society, one way or another they will be seen.
The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman - Parul Sehgal
“In fact, her images are so foundational to feminist art criticism, to notions of the “male gaze,” that it can be difficult to see them for themselves — they come to us encrusted with theory.”
Obviously a male wouldn’t understand the work of a women if their mind is set on a one way street, you have to be able to cancel out judgment in the world of art , any and everything can be art.
“It was easy to erase myself and put on somebody else’s face and say, ‘Maybe now you guys will remember me,’ or ‘How about this face or that character?’ ” But sometimes it was safer to be forgotten.”
I related to this because that’s how I was for some time, dancing for 15 years allowed me to create characters that gave the best impression when it came to performances, at times I left everything at the door and just danced, I wasn’t Jean, but just a dancer
Weekly Selfie II- Cindy Sherman
 |
| Cindy Sherman Untitled Homage to Claude Cahun (1975),, 2004 |
My selfie was inspired by Cindy Sherman's piece, pictured above. I chose it because of the 80's stoic feel it gave and the creative aspect of the make up she chose.
The Cindy Sherman Effect by Phoebe Hoban- Art News
- "The art world was ready for something new, something beyond painting. A group of mostly women happened to be the ones to sort of take that on, partly because they felt excluded from the rest of the [male] art world, and thought, ‘Nobody is playing with photography. Let’s take that as our tool.’”
- "Perhaps the world’s most self-effacing artist (literally and figuratively), Sherman refuses to take any credit for her innovations. What has she herself discovered through her work? “I think it has made me realize that we’ve all chosen who we are in terms of how we want the world to see us,” she says."
In this article we follow the impact of Cindy Sherman's style of art on the generations after her. She paved the way for herself in a male-dominated, art world and created a style that allowed her to create a perception of her own identity instead of letting others assume that for her.
The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman- New York Times
- "In fact, her images are so foundational to feminist art criticism, to notions of the “male gaze,” that it can be difficult to see them for themselves — they come to us encrusted with theory. "
- "Are these women insisting on being seen or are they taunting us, mischievously playing on fears of female ugliness, of becoming old and absurd or just invisible? That slipperiness in her work — does she see people clearly out of kinship or cruelty? — becomes complicated here by her ambivalence about aging."
This NY Times article dives into the childhood and uprising of Cindy Sherman. She felt misunderstood as a child and used dressing up and playing "characters" to fit in with her siblings. She continued to use this form of expression to infiltrate the art world creating art through self, especially for women. From what I gathered from those two quotes above, is women have to stop viewing themselves through the male gaze because society has deemed them as objects that once we get old, are useless, but we create our own identity and worth.
Weekly Selfie 2 - Cindy Sherman - BinChao Yang
Untitled Film Still #56, Cindy Sherman, 1980
I chose this photo because it makes me feel like I am looking at myself in the mirror when I am tired, looking at my inner world through the mirror, and thinking about who I am. Everyone has two faces, one is the self in the eyes of others in reality, and the other is the true self in the heart. Sometimes, people often ignore their own feelings because they care so much about what others think.
The Cindy Sherman Effect
"Cindy Sherman opened a lot of the doors. She was the trendsetter in terms of distorted characters within self-portraiture. Originally painters painted self-portraits, and then she kind of blew it open with photographic portraiture, and now there are all these avenues younger artists are taking, which would not have been so easy without her work."
“What she does is within a very narrow set of parameters that she’s been able to mine brilliantly for the last 35 years.”
You don't have to limit your imagination and creativity to a certain range. People should try to break through, discover new things, and create more possibilities.
The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman
“These women are not metaphors, they are not waiting to be represented, rescued or destroyed. They are gloriously, catastrophically themselves, and we meet them on their own terms — as we so frequently meet each other — in stagy, embarrassing, endearing selfies launched into the world.”
“I laughed when I first saw the picture. She is wonderful, this woman: striking and odd, indefatigably optimistic-looking. But then she uncorks something different in me, a kind of protectiveness. ”
Everyone has a different side. Most of the time, people show their best side, but who can see their true self?
Kyle Pangilinan - Weekly Selfie #2 - Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman --- Untitled Film Still #29, 1979
Recreation "Home"
I recreated one of Sherman's Untitled Film Stills. From this particular photo, I perceive that I am coming home from a rough day, but barely having the strength to move from the door-- hunched by the corner, sluggishly stretching my arm out.
The Cindy Sherman Effect by Phoebe Hoban for ARTnews
- "Sherman’s dazzling skill as a perpetual shape-shifter is perhaps her major contribution to contemporary art. A less conspicuous but equally important legacy involves the way her work has permanently blurred the line between fine art and photography."
- "True to form, Sherman’s approach remains modestly low tech. Although her most recent work relies on Photoshop to subtly alter her face, provide intricate backgrounds, or even clone similar personae within a single piece, “I still like the idea of challenging myself through the more hands-on methods, only because I think it’s more challenging when you are limited,” Sherman says."
I resonate with Sherman's sentiment, that artists can use more than one medium to express themselves, as well as provide a challenge that will complement an artist's thought process in their body of work.
The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman - by Parul Sehgal for The NY Times Magazine
- "But with the Instagram series, Sherman isn’t riffing on recognizable archetypes. Her new mock self-portraits are of ordinary people, albeit cartoonishly caricatured. They are some of the first pure protagonists in Sherman’s work: These women are not metaphors, they are not waiting to be represented, rescued or destroyed. They are gloriously, catastrophically themselves, and we meet them on their own terms — as we so frequently meet each other — in stagy, embarrassing, endearing selfies launched into the world."
- "I felt like this straggler that was running after them, saying: ‘Hey, remember me?’ ” she said in a later interview. “ ‘Don’t forget about me!’ It was easy to erase myself and put on somebody else’s face and say, ‘Maybe now you guys will remember me,’ or ‘How about this face or that character?’” But sometimes it was safer to be forgotten."
With each passing day, I try to make the best out of the only life I have. One of the many things I desire is connection, through my artwork and interaction. However, when I was much younger, I was careless with how I approached other people, all for the sake of connection. Looking back, I regret having met certain people and wish I had been more knowledgeable in avoiding them. Now, I decided to express myself in the only way I knew how, through art, to better understand who I am. Whether or not my art will reach out to other people, this will overall help me throughout my life.
Week 2 Cindy Sherman
 |
| Cindy Sherman Photograph from Art-21 Characters |
The Cindy Sherman Effect By: Phoebe Hoban
“Her work has in some ways presaged the media age that we live in now and also absolutely responds to it,” says MoMA photography. Curator Eva Respini,
Cindy Sherman has a unique authentication.
and each character or photograph that she has played, she has channeled the actual character itself. Cindy has found a way to be true a master in disguise. In Art 21| Characters. Cindy Sherman mentions how she feels “she doesn’t know how to set her models up or tell them how to pose. But I feel she naturally uses her instinct to see what will truly capture the image.
As stated in the article By: Phoebe Hoban
“No wonder the work of so many artists parallels Sherman’s, or at least mines similar conceptual veins: role-playing and the nature of identity; sexual and cultural stereotypes; the pressure to conform to the images of perfection promulgated through television, film, and advertising.”
This really stuck out to me because in time when now it seems we are flushed with what is an ideal image of a female stereotype due to society’s cultural susceptible, norms. The Digital age and photo shop have changed what we may deem as cultural beauty standards or even as far as to say cultural appropriation. The reason I use that is for every Era or generation that society has their own set of beauty standards or style that seemed attractive and have changed over time. For many decades woman have been over sexualized. While trying to confirm to medias beauty standards woman have either been told we need more or we either have to much. Creating dystopian form of beauty standards
New York Times Magazine| Ugly Beauty By: Paul Sehgal
“With the Instagram series, Sherman isn’t riffing on recognizable archetypes. Her new mock self-portraits are of ordinary people, albeit cartoonishly caricatured. They are some of the first pure protagonists in Sherman’s work: These women are not metaphors, they are not waiting to be represented, rescued or destroyed. They are gloriously, catastrophically themselves, and we meet them on their own terms — as we so frequently meet each other — in stagy, embarrassing, endearing selfies launched into the world.”
I believe Cindy Sherman found a way to live in her truth after attempting 500 different characters for her images. Not only to say she has learned to be her best self. But I feel she has a greater appreciation for people and their unique flaws. To me she is creating more to the image but through what she interpretes from her muse’s. Some of the images have the rather same eyes like gloomy hopeless feeling of happiness or looking optimistic, with a bit of sadness. It’s surreal and I feel the colors represent much more than what it makes the image to be.
New York Times Magazine| Ugly Beauty By: Paul Sehgal
Sherman grew up feeling like an intruder. “It wasn’t that they didn’t like me, but I came along so late and they already had a family,” she told The Guardian in 2011. She started dressing up to woo them. “I felt like this straggler that was running after them, saying: ‘Hey, remember me?’ “
The fact that Cindy Sherman felt like an intruder in her own family could not have resonated any closer with me. Being one of the youngest in my family it has always made it hard to find your own voice. At times we may be riddled with how to fit in. With that being said it makes it harder to have confidence growing up. Or it may even feel like you are in the shadows of others. Sherman found her voice and a way to step out of societal roles. She created her own Utopia through art.
Week 2 - Jenelle Mejia
Untitled #411. 2003
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kwFkHHCB9P76gfkdJIi0g_6XX52V_43b/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aAgS8joDkeZV3bTENE0LHquMdd2nxpry/view?usp=sharing
Cindy Sherman Effect-
"Cindy was one of the first to explore the idea of the malleability or fluidity of identity."
Giving ourselves the space to change and understanding that we're meant to change. This is in regard to our physical bodies and how we choose/have to present to the world. We have to account for the people that are simply surviving and don't have a choice.
"Her kaleidoscopic investigation of the essence of her own—and, by extension, society’s—identity complex has relied on ingenuity, not gigabytes."
Capturing someone's essence is such an interesting concept to me. The idea that certain objects or makeup are an extension of who we are. The self is a combination of internal and external factors. Essentially, what really defines the self? My answer is that we choose, we choose what defines us.
The Ugly Beauty-
"Desire for survival alone couldn’t account for the freakishness of camouflage…nature playing “a game of intricate enchantment and deception.”
She created these characters to cope with her environment. Subconsciously, she has to feel connected to the characters and they reflect parts of herself that she doesn't like. Her "dislike for people/characters" is really a projection of her insecurities. These photographs are taken in complete privacy, where she can be the most vulnerable.
"None of the women in the series do. Their vulnerability pains me — how badly they want to achieve some kind of glamour, how magnificently they miss the mark."
They're speaking on a women's desire to be perfect and validated by society. That desire ends up driving women crazy, it is at the core of female rage. There are hints of "female rage" in some of her photographs. This quote also speaks on the beauty of imperfection. The imperfections that drive some women crazy, can in fact be the source of their beauty.
Weekly Selfie 2 | Cindy Sherman | Andy Liu
The Cindy Sherman Effect
"We live in the era of YouTube fame and reality-TV shows and makeovers, where you can be anything you want to be any minute of the day, and artists are responding to that. Cindy was one of the first to explore the idea of the malleability or fluidity of identity."
"Artistic personae can not only be instantly created but also instantly animated and disseminated."
In the age of technology and social media we are allowed to be someone different online than the person we are in real life. We can become a character or characters, and if we chose not to be that person tomorrow then we don't have to be. Cindy Sherman's exploration of identity and character prefaced the culture we're in today and was a major conduit to what is happening now on the social media sphere. Furthermore, many people who create these online personas eventually take on the character full-fledged and the lines between what is and isn't begins to be blurred. Often times many people see themselves in these characters, and playing a character allows people to fully partake in being the person who they've always wanted to be. But then again, who we are as people is ever changing so it begs the question: are you playing a character or are you being who you've always wanted to be?
The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman
"In fact, her images are so foundational to feminist art criticism, to notions of the “male gaze,” that it can be difficult to see them for themselves — they come to us encrusted with theory."
"She has no camouflage. None of the women in the series do. Their vulnerability pains me — how badly they want to achieve some kind of glamour, how magnificently they miss the mark."
With the characters that Sherman puts on she actively goes against the male gaze and in turn creates something that is initially strange yet refreshing. The writer mentions the vulnerability of the characters and how they miss the mark which is reflective of the climate that we're in. Although I haven't been long around enough to know exactly, it seems like not much as changed from before. Men have dictated what women should and shouldn't do in terms of appearance, and the images by Sherman are a big "F*** you" to that notion.
Cindy Sherman. Untitled Film Still #46. 1979
"I wanna go fast. I wanna go fast."
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Weekly Selfie #2 - Nicole Corvi
Weekly Selfie #2
The Cindy Sherman Effect - Phoebe Hoban
1. "'Now we all take it for granted that a photograph can be Photoshopped. We live in the era of YouTube fame and reality-TV shows and makeovers, where you can be anything you want to be any minute of the day, and artists are responding to that. Cindy was one of the first to explore the idea of the malleability or fluidity of identity.' "
Within the article the author, Phoebe Hoban, includes these words from MoMA photography curator Eva Respini. Respini is emphasizing the influence that younger artists take away from Cindy Sherman's early self-image work. Sherman's photography through the 1970s and 1990s was some of the first to focus around representation and the the concept of fluid identity. She used things such as costumes and make up to transform herself into different characters, as well as many versions of herself. Today, with technology such as social media and photoshop, it is easy for artists to explore themselves and create their own persona. Sherman pioneered a lot of modern day thinking concerning younger artists and self-perception.
2. "And by limiting her subject matter strictly to herself, while at the same time excavating countless permutations, she inspired a generation of younger artists to explore their own identities across a range of mediums."
Cindy Sherman was best known for using strictly her physical entity as the subject for her portraiture work. Sherman introduced self-portraits using photography; something many artists were not doing at the time. Hoban, the writer of the article, discusses that Sherman did not only influence photographers but artists across various different mediums. Whether it was through painting, performance, or picture, Sherman inspired artists to explore themselves. The sole focus of one's self-identity guides those to produce unique pieces that are niche and meaningful.
The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman - Parul Sehgal
1. "Sherman herself is reluctant to discuss the meaning of her work; she is amused by the interpretive frenzy it provokes."
While reading this article on Cindy Sherman by Parul Sehgal, I read a few small excerpts that were easy to relate to as an artist. A lot of Sherman's work can be viewed as controversial, and has been known to cause uproar among audiences. I believe that art is meant to be interpretive; that the beauty within a piece is in the eye of the beholder. As an artist, I want someone to look at my work and feel something. I don't want there to be one, specific meaning to any piece. I want viewers to find that meaning and resinate with it themselves. Therefore, it is completely understandable to me why Sherman does not like to explain her work or why she created it.
2. "She has worked alone since then, with her camera and mirror and prosthetics. “Nobody’s here but me,” she says, in the documentary of that name."
Similar to the first quote I chose from this article, this excerpt made me reflect on how I see myself as an artist. Most, if not all of the time, everything idea I produce is one hundred percent created by myself. When I have an idea, I do not await approval. Instead, I go ahead and execute it to the best of my ability; because my work is a reflection of myself. Sherman seems to have the same idea. The validity of others does not matter; her best tool is her artistic mind. Through this alone, she has found great success in her work.
untitled #137. 1984 - Cindy Sherman
My interpretation
I tried to mimic Sherman's sad and disheveled look in this recreation. I also used some filters to try and get a similar version of the dirty background she used.
Weekly Selfie 2 - Cindy Sherman
Aileen Herrera Ojeda
“The Cindy Sherman Effect”, Phoebe Hoban
“By deconstructing and reinventing portraiture, which in itself was something of a dead genre when she arrived on the scene, Sherman influenced not only photographers but also painters and performance and video artists. And by limiting her subject matter strictly to herself, while at the same time excavating countless permutations, she inspired a generation of younger artists to explore their own identities across a range of mediums.”
I found it very interesting how Cindy Sherman was able to not only reinvented what it meant to create a portrait but as well as inspired more than just photographers, spreading her influence through different types of mediums and even decades as her work still inspires artists today. Focusing on exploring different identities while only using herself is also a unique concept.
“What Cindy did, starting with the ‘Film Stills,’ is she realized the degree to which the stills used to promote cinema influenced the way people portrayed themselves, and she saw it as pure theater. That’s what I see as one of her great strengths—the theatrics of camera vision.”
Specifically I was very inspired by Sherman’s “Film Stills”. I thought they were so well done and really looked like they came out of a movie. I can definitely tell that Sherman has a sort of cinematic eye when it comes to her photographs but specifically from her “Film Stills”.
“The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman”, Parul Sehgal
“She has worked alone since then, with her camera and mirror and prosthetics. “Nobody’s here but me,” she says…”
Seeing Cindy Sherman’s works throughout the years, it's truly incredible how she was able to capture a lot of these photos on her own. From the concept to actual photo her vision and artist eye is one of a kind. It really shows that you don’t need a whole crew or fancy equipment, just a camera and yourself. Very inspirational for young artist now.
“It was easy to erase myself and put on somebody else’s face and say, ‘Maybe now you guys will remember me,’ or ‘How about this face or that character?’ ”
In this article there are a few lines of Sherman’s personal life including her childhood. She grew up feeling left out, almost like she was forgotten. She put on characters to see if her family would pay attention to her. Its interesting to see where these ideas of identity all started from. Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Stills #32
Inspiration/Source Image
Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Stills #32
Recreation I
Weekly Selfie 2 - Cindy Sherman, Untitled 414, 2004
 |
| Untitled 414, Cindy Sherman, 2004 |
 |
| Recreation |
- I personally like Sherman's clown photo since it looks mysterious and disturbing in a good way. Her photo also reminds me of Pennywise, a scary clown from a classic horror movie of "It."
John Currin quote
“I think Sherman has obviously influenced me, or I’ve just ripped things
off from her. I thought the straw hat in that image was an amazing sinister
presence. It stuck with me, and I used it in The Dogwood Thieves, which is a
painting of two women clutching a hat. Cindy is someone who can create a new
kind of scary clown that is not a cliché. Her work is very straightforwardly put
together, but it is incredibly mysterious and magical.”
- We can see that this artist John Currin was being influenced by Cindy Sherman. He liked how she used a straw hat in a creepy way, and the artist put that idea into his own painting, "The Dogwood Thieves," with two women holding a hat. The artist admires Sherman's skill in making scary clowns that aren't cliché. He also liked how Sherman's work is simple yet mysterious and magical.
Cindy Sherman quote
"I still like the idea of challenging myself through the more hands-on methods, only because I think it’s more challenging when you are limited. With Photoshop anything goes, and I don’t want to make easy crazy characters just because I can."
- With Sherman's quote, we can see she's saying that she likes to challenge herself by using hands-on methods instead of just using digital tools like Photoshop. She thinks it's more challenging to work with limitations, and she doesn't want to create easy or overly fancy characters just because digital tools allow it. This shows she values the craft of creating art and wants to keep things challenging in her creative process.
Roger Caillois quote
“Why do sole and turbot borrow the colors and even the contours of the sea-bottom?”Out of self-protection? No, out of self-disgust.”
- This quote peeked my interest for the philosopher's negative perspective. He wonders why some fish, such as sole and turbot, copy the colors and shapes of the sea-bottom. He rejects the idea that it's for self-protection and suggests that these adaptations come from a feeling of self-disgust. It's safe to say that this perspective paints nature in a darker light, suggesting that these fish mimic not to survive but because they somehow dislike themselves, very intriguing.
Parul Sehgal quote
"Despite loathing selfies (“so vulgar”), Sherman has recently taken to Instagram, where she has been producing a series of images utterly unlike anything she has created. Her photographs have always had a strong narrative, an ability to suggest an entire psychology or story line in a single detail — the way a woman hesitates in a doorway, as in a portrait from “Untitled Film Stills,” wearing white stockings and dark glasses, barely hanging onto her martini glass and staring at the viewer with alarm."
- This quote from the article has shown Cindy Sherman not liking selfies but now using Instagram. Unlike her usual work, her Instagram photos are different. In her regular photos, she's known for telling a whole story in one detail, like a woman in a doorway with a martini glass from her "Untitled Film Stills." The words from the article suggests that Sherman is trying something new on Instagram, exploring styles or themes that are different from her usual narrative-focused photography.
Weekly Selfie 2 | Cindy Sherman | Navdeep Sanghera
Recreation
Cindy Sherman | Untitled #70 (1980)
Nighthawks | Edward Hopper (1942)
I had chosen this photograph because it gives the esthetic of a B-movie. I imagine the location of the backdrop being inside a bar in the metro area. The dim orange light on Cindy's face captivated me because of the similar cinematography we see in films that utilize color. The photo has a noir relaxing style that reminds me of one of Edward Hopper's paintings Nighthawks. The narrative I had created in my mind was visiting and drinking late at night after a long day of professional work at a corporate job.
___________________________
The Cindy Sherman Effect Phoebe Hoban
A less conspicuous but equally important legacy is how her work has permanently blurred the line between fine art and photography.
Says Prager of Sherman’s influence, “She’s a woman commenting on women and so am I. I’m also attracted to the weird and bizarre, and she’s a master at that. I relate to her use of color, lighting, and the way her ‘scenes’ are mocked up in a way that is never too clean.”
Cindy Sherman is an avant-garde, she explored and experimented with the collision of film stills of the stereotyped characters and placed herself within that character, and as an actor, she acts out her role well to embody the character while combining how she interprets them to be in an act of imagination. We see a continuation of photography used to set up and create an act, to give the viewers an image to think and imagine upon. The Untitled Film Stills series grasped my attention as she directed a narrative for the female character along with setting up her composition within the frame. Cindy has left her work ambiguous to the viewer's imagination.
The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman Parul Sehgal
Her first series, the landmark “Untitled Film Stills,” 1977-80, featured 70 black-and-white photographs of scenes from fictional films, inspired by Hitchcock and Antonioni.
John Waters has called her a “female female impersonator.”
I absolutely love seeing her Untitled Film Stills series, now knowing she had re-created photographs of scenes from the films of famous successful film directors makes me more interested in these series. Cindy Sherman definitely enjoys seeing how others would perceive her series. They are imitations of the signature cinematographed style of film directors. As for her acting skills, Cindy goes well into each character treating it as if it was an actual life and carefully considering her next moves that would be appropriate to the character. Cindy Sherman plays the female characters in this series as feminine matching to how women were portrayed in Hollywood during the 1940s-1950s. Her studies from viewing the films of the past influenced her to create the Untitled Film Still series and her fascination with dressing up carried on from her childhood.
Monday, January 29, 2024
SELFIE WEEK 2 - ARIANNA ALMAGUER
Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince
Untitled 1980
Recreation
The Cindy Sherman Effect
1- “A number of younger artists are very much indebted to Sherman in their exploration of not just identity but also the nature of representation."This quote says that many young artists are pleased with Sherman by her representation of natural identity and beauty that she presents and as of now many people, when they take pictures, it just gets transferred to photoshop just be altered, altering the natural beauty that a photo consists, I honestly think it loses value.
2 - "Sherman influenced not only photographers but also painters and performance and video artists. And by limiting her subject matter strictly to herself, while at the same time excavating countless permutations, she inspired a generation of younger artists to explore their own identities across a range of mediums."
Sherman influenced many people especially the younger generations that are starting to explore their skills and the different mediums within the arts. This gives the younger generation a push for them to be more open about their identities as to who they are in the world.
The Ugly Beauty of Cindy Sherman
1 - "They are some of the first pure protagonists in Sherman’s work: These women are not metaphors, they are not waiting to be represented, rescued or destroyed. They are gloriously, catastrophically themselves, and we meet them on their own terms — as we so frequently meet each other — in stagy, embarrassing, endearing selfies launched into the world."
Sherman's work are women who are themselves and not seen or used as a metaphor. They are not used in an exaggerated picture or make them seen that they need to be rescued.
2 - “you can’t make a photograph without the entire history of Cindy Sherman’s oeuvre behind it,”
This means that you cant actually make any photographs without really knowing the whole history of Sherman and because her images are so foundational to feminist art criticisms. She does not discuss about her works or the meaning behind it, she is mostly amused to the people who provokes a frenzy with her works.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Weekly Selfie I - |Kitchen Table Series|
 |
| Carrie Mae Weems "Kitchen Table Series" |
Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems’s Landmark “Kitchen Table Series”- Jacqui Palumbo
“But it was also a seminal moment for Black representation in art, influencing an entire generation of artists who rarely saw their own selves reflected back on museum walls. Still, the series is not limited to a particular perspective. ”
"Black artists is considered to be about Blackness. Unlike work that’s made by white artists, which is assumed to be universal at its core.”
From reading this article I gathered that Weems wanted her artwork to not be seen as just black art but art. Being creative without a label based on her race but also create a space where her fellow and upcoming black artists are comfortable.
"How Carrie Mae Weems Rewrote the Rules of Image-Making"- NY Times
"But by the 1980s, fueled in part by Laura Mulvey’s landmark 1975 essay on gaze, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” art was in a more reflexive mode, and Weems was exploring her own sense of herself in relation to a visual culture in which black women scarcely appeared at all. "
"In “The Kitchen Table Series,” Weems stares out at us in a way that insists we not simply look at her but really see her — a charged exchange, but also a beautifully leveling one: Here we are, human to human, across the table from one another. She plays a character: friend, parent, breadwinner, lover, a woman who resists classification, a woman of the world, of political conscience. "
This article by the New York Times, shows how hard it was for women to be taken seriously in the art world and not seen as an objects. Carrie Mae wanted to change the narrative through the Kitchen Table Series on the expected job of a woman in the kitchen but create different views and owning her body and life.
Susan Sontag's excerpt from On Photography
"Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire."
Since there were then no professional photographers, there could not be amateurs either, and taking photographs had no clear social use; it was a gratuitous, that is, an artistic activity, though with few pretensions to being an art."
Kyle Pangilinan - Weekly Selfie 1 - Kitchen Table
Carrie Mae Weems --- Untitled (Woman and phone) from the series The Kitchen Table, 1990
Recreation of The Kitchen Table Series
Carrie's Kitchen Table Series relates to my thoughts and routines in life, especially, the one where she's by herself. The dining table is one of many places I bond with my parents, especially the food we make for each other strengthens that bond. However, my mind races, whether alone or with others present. But by myself, I let them out through my hobbies, or usually when I eat. This picture represents my inner self, resting but trying to better myself each day at a time; not just for me, but also for my loved ones.
Susan Sontag's excerpt from On Photography
- "Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it. In one version of its utility, the camera record incriminates. Starting with their use by the Paris police in the murderous roundup of Communards in June 1871, photographs became a useful tool of modern states in the surveillance and control of their increasingly mobile populations. In another version of its utility, the camera record justifies. A photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a given thing happened. The picture may distort; but there is always a presumption that something exists, or did exist, which is like what's in the picture."
- "There is an aggression implicit in every use of the camera. This is as evident in the 1840s and 1850s, photography's glorious first two decades, as in all the succeeding decades, during which technology made possible an ever increasing spread of that mentality which looks at the world as a set of potential photographs."
Photos have their purpose, they capture what is already there and what has happened. However, the context of said picture adds to the value of the subject, which can also apply to artwork like paintings and drawings. Photos taken and art made by you, represent your mindset inspired by certain events in your life, which feel authentic to you.
Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems’s Landmark “Kitchen Table Series” by Jacqui Palumbo
- "Everyone can relate to this work,” Sann said. “It’s not just Black women; it’s white women, Asian women. Men can see the women in their lives—memories from their childhood or scenes from their marriage or their family life. It’s so universal and yet representation like this is so rare."
- "Weems, playing the muse, embraces her partner, their arms forming a single spiral. She’s alone, folding into herself, a half-empty bottle of wine in front of her. She laughs with her friends, their movement leaving spectral trails across the frame."
Carie's work can relate to people of many backgrounds and their personal lives, highlighting the little and important things that make up our lives. Sometimes, it's the little things in life that make us feel safe and happy, are what get us through the hardships we face. Through experiencing the rest of the world, we will have a better introspection about ourselves and how we address other people.
The New York Times --- How Carrie Mae Weems Rewrote the Rules of Image-Making by Megan O'Grady
- "Photography can enslave and revictimize, Weems has shown us; it can also, potentially, set us free from our inherited bias and expectations."
- "Her black‑and‑white photo series of a bare kitchen table shows a round robin of characters appearing and disappearing, forcing us to contemplate what body language and facial expressions intimate about relationships. My favorite video, “Italian Dreams” (2006), includes a moment that shows the back of a woman sitting alone at a desk in a darkened room with only a high single window, through which we can see blue sky and falling snow. In that single image, Carrie Mae captures the loneliness that possibly every artist experiences as we face the task of trying to make something new."
Our view of the world can change, for better or for worse, depending on which course we take in our lives. Through self-reflection, we can help ourselves in our hardships.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)