Cindy Sherman is an American photographer who gained recognition in the early 1980s for her socially critical photography. Sherman found photography in the late 1970s after turning away from the realistic painting which she studied while attending art school. According to Sherman, photography allowed her the time to explore concepts that painting did not. Exploring a wide range of female personalities and social roles through photography, Sherman questioned the influence of mass media on women. Comprehending the oppressive images of women bombarded upon American society, Sherman turned the camera on herself in order to expose the culture that surrounded her. Taking on roles including actress, fashion model, and the girl next door, Sherman exposed the deceptiveness of advertisement that promoted a false sense of self identity through sexuality. Sexuality being in actuality, the submission to domination. In the era where image was everything, Cindy Sherman was not afraid to tackle the subject of image head on, by literally placing herself in front of the lens.
By utilizing costumes, makeup, and scenery, Sherman creates the illusions that represent concepts including self confidence, entertainment, and sex. Through illusions, Sherman comments on these concepts by offering the theory that all three are compromises in our society. There is personal intent coupled with the social mores that surround and influence everyone. Sherman’s portrait work ranges from images found in the modern world, to images that harken back to another era. As well as political commentary, there is humor, horror, and caricature. From tongue-in-cheek 1950s nostalgia to unnerving clowns, Sherman confronts the observer. Her work is conceptualized, created, and critiqued, yet the work is open to individual perception. Are her subjects the used, or the users? Both, perhaps, and that may be the hidden truth behind Sherman’s work, and in life.
In 2003, Sherman released the untitled portrait known as “Woman in Sun Dress”. In the portrait, Sherman portrays what appears to be the stereotypical modern “California” woman. This is the the “Real Housewife of Beverly Hills", whose personality flourishes in America today. True identity is nowhere to be found beyond the daily performances that make up this woman's life.This image represents vanity, pride, insincerity, and low self esteem. Sherman was a young woman during the women’s liberation movement, and experienced a society where make-up and the right bra were the norm one day, and reviled the next. Yet, has anything really changed? Are women under the same pressures today that they were in the 1950s? If they aren't, is this image an act? Sherman’s portrait begs these questions. The subject’s tanned body almost matches the hot, orange background. The color mimics the sun (or the tanning bed?) that will surely lend the woman’s aging skin to cancer, all in the name of the right look. The white bikini line, in stark contrast to the tanned skin, may be the only untouched part of the woman. Her eyes have a crazed, stepford wife gaze, and openly offering sage wisdom and advice from a person whose never lifted a finger. The $300 haircut and fashionable jewelry remind us that spending money is what matters most in life. The $100,000 botoxed face tells us that marrying the 1978 Heisman trophy winner was an accomplishment that proves “she’s in control”. Nevermind that he was never faithful, and that they divorced in 1987. The naive pose matches the naive hat choice. She’s 50, not 15 (another part of the act?). And, the strapless dress just waiting to expose her breasts tells the world that she’s ready for more action, because she clearly hasn’t learned from past actions.
Cindy Sherman, the actress, works with Cindy Sherman the photographer and produces a piece of art that says a tremendous amount with a glance and a pose. Despite what we may think of the lady in the sun dress, she is literally up front, ready to be seen, and is full of pride. In her own mind she is Her Majesty the Queen. Or, at least that's the image she covets. It is here where we see Cindy Sherman’s mastery of her craft. In one photo, Sherman delivers all this. She is a photographer who uses herself, yet does not pridefully rejoice in herself. Sherman loses herself in character and has the ability to create images of women who reveal no actual sense of self worth. These women are stereotypical constructs of popular American society, and for that I feel sorry for them. Not everyone has the ability to be autonomously liberated. Even in the Woman in Sun Dress, there is the hint of a child whose life could have gone in any direction. The sun dress, with all it represents, isn’t the worst outcome, but it's far from the best.
Sources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2105545/The-faces-Cindy-Sherman-MoMA-retrospective-shows-artists-incredible-character-archive-clowns-movie-stars.html
