Cindy Sherman

Kyla and myself went along to Sprueth Magers gallery to see the new Cindy Sherman exhibition and to discuss how her work is relevant to our own practice. The images are huge and printed onto wallpaper (well actually it is a very fine sticky backed fabric but looks like wallpaper), the exhibit is specifically tailor made to the space. I think its an interesting move into installation and away from the print in frame. There's a real power in the installation, the size and expressivness(?) of each character, but still a comfortable feeling That it is still Sherman as subject, photographer and masquerades. This time she is using digital manipulation instead of makeup or actual masks which creates a more subtle disturbance in the character of her face. I found the characters confrontational yet vulnerable, although some where grouped together they each had an aloneness (?).
The ways in which it relates to my practice is her questioning of identity and gender, specifically female identity. I am also looking at ways of masking, hiding, obscuring identity, so a form of masquarade.
I am questioning the objectification of woman, I'm questioning 'can a woman be objectified if her 'true' identity is hidden? If her face is hidden, her expression, her eyes, does this make her less appealing due to the fact that I see the face as the most expressive and the place that will show her passivity that is so desirable in these images that we see so much in contemporary visual culture?
Having worked as a stylist in the fashion industry for many years I am used to these images, used to creating them to please the advertising teams and to appeal to the viewer so it's interesting to re examine them from a different perspective and question them.

Daily documentation of intimate life

As of 1st jan 2011 I have been taking one photo a day as a documentation of my intimate life, it's a lot harder than it sounds, how to keep each day different, interesting, refreshing and to express that day...there's a difference between documenting my real life and making art, some days are creative and others just snapshots but I'm interested to see where it goes and I think it's a good discipline for me to aim to take just one photo a day...Hmm we'll see if I can last the year!

Cindy Sherman at SPRÜTH MAGERS london

Looking forward to going to see Cindy Sherman's new exhibition tomorrow at Spruth Magers gallery London.

http://spruethmagers.net/exhibitions/276

Mirror image

Am using mirrors in my photography this week, looking at the several identity's that an individual can have.

reading

am interested in self portrait photography and am reading two good books: 'the photograph as contemporary art' Charlotte Cotton. Thames and Hudson. and 'Auto Focus, the self-portrait in contemporary photography'. Susan Bright. Thames and Hudson. Both are giving me ideas for my essay but still unsure of the question/title but will keep reading and hopefully the question will come.

Alexander McQueen

i have been asked to interview at Alexander McQueen in their print design room for an internship, i feel very privileged to be asked but they want people who draw and i don't feel i am strong at drawing so it may not suit me but am still going to go along and show them what i can do, so am spending the week working on some ideas for them.

re thinking woodman

having thought about the Woodman exhibition over the holidays and been looking at her work again in books i think that the exhibition for me actually felt less intimate than when i view her work in the privacy of my own home. maybe it was the sparseness of the Vitoria Miro, that big cold open warehouse gallery with the small prints, maybe being conscious of other viewers in the gallery, how much time i give to each image in the gallery setting (at home i feel free to flick through images or spend time digesting one particular image. so for me the exhibition wasn't successful in giving me the feel i originally felt about her work when only seen in publications, i came to the exhibition expecting to feel even closer to her work but came away disappointed.