Not Carri in 20 years time.Last week in NYC, I went to see the Cindy Sherman show at the MOMA. Since she basically invented the GPOY and pioneered deliberately grotesque and parodic hyper-materialistic styling and the way a lot of the people really into fashion dress, seeing the show was a big deal for me.I've been into Cindy since I was a teenager making awkward feminist art at high school—unfortunately my work was banned from the end of year show because it included tampons and boobs, LOL. Her work is an exploration of identity, which appealed to me as a confused teen—I couldn't work out if I was part-chav, part-metaller, total geek, or just an outsider. It also explains her crucial relevance to the tumblr generation of image-savvy internet curators and anyone who has ever dressed up and posted a photo on their myspace.
Cindy's work is also about storytelling, building characters, the stories implied in the image. She often uses sets and lighting, but most purely through costume, hair, and make-up.These obvious connections to fashion editorial and advertising are highlighted by her collaborations with fashion brands—first Comme des Garçons in the 90s, and more recently, Balenciaga and magazines including Pop andVogue.Cindy Sherman has also collaborated with MAC Cosmetics.
Sherman styles herself in all her work and uses prosthetics and costume to completely change her identity. In her more recent work, she uses a combination of the latter and digital post-production. This Rhizome article explores the transition in her processes.
It's as if Cindy was predicting the ganguro—
—or people like Ryan Trecartin. When I think about Cindy, the ganguro, and Ryan's work, I think psychedelic-cyborg-tween-soap-opera-video-art-web-2.0 to infinity. Ryan explodes rather than explores identity. His videos are visions of an addictive and terrifyingly accelerated nation of supersaturated consumption and hysterical communication. His characters are both alien and familiar. He is my favorite artist.
The female internet artists like Alis Pelleschi and Grace Miceli also following in Cindy's footsteps.
Sherman is not afraid of the grotesque, and like Trecartin, her work parodies our culture's obsession with image. Performance artist Orlan took this to the extreme by permanently changing her body through plastic surgery in the 80s. Her work is her transformation. Orlan was a premonition of a culture of extreme body modification and plastic surgery #fails.
And definitely an inspiration to Gaga and her Monsters.
Finally… Without Cindy Sherman Molly Soda would blow your mind?<3 Cindy Sherman forever!
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