Cindy Sherman - Communicating Intention

By looking at Cindy Sherman’s work over the past three weeks, I truly believe I have a whole new perspective on what makes a piece of art captivating. It’s not always about the attractive colours and the famous artist behind the work. The meaning and intention of the piece can be the real key to understanding a whole collection of works. One of Sherman’s latest collections “Society Portraits” shows the wives of the rich and powerful who look as though they are showing off their status and standing tall and proud. As you look closer these women almost look broken. It made me wonder what they had sacrificed to get to where they were. While reading up on this collection, I discovered that the work is based upon the financial crisis in 2007-2008. Because Sherman released this collection in 2008 it relates to the crisis in small subtle ways. The deeper you look into one of the works, more aspects become apparent. Take the images below for example. The women in the image looks strong and in control, but small things metaphorically link to Sherman’s intention. She has a thread from her silk kimono hanging down at her wrist. It gives the impression that if you pulled it her lifestyle would just fall to pieces around her. The cheap plastic shoes are another giveaway that perhaps shows that the financial crisis is having an impact on her life. When I was looking at this work I just saw the wealthy wife. It wasn’t until I was told to look at the finer details that I noticed how Sherman has communicated her original purpose for the collection.

This relates to an article ‘How Long Do You Need to Look at a Work of Art to Get It?’ by Isaac Kaplan. He discusses how people walk past a piece and look at it for 15-30 seconds, which is plenty of time to see what it is portraying, but not nearly enough time to “fully experience” the work. Gavin Ambrose and Paul Harris stated in their book ‘Fundamentals of Graphic Design, Environmental Design’, “It is unrealistic to expect the audience to absorb information as they would when reading a book”. (pg. 134.) In ‘How to See the World’ by Nicholas Mirzoeff he talks about how stunned people were when they first saw the “Blue Marble” because it was the first image of earth from space. (pg. 3-4.) Both of these texts explain that when we see a new image, the real intention is often overlooked because we are so distracted by the images first impression. “For all the new visual material, it is often hard to be sure what we are seeing when we look at today’s world.” (Mirzoeff, pg. 7.)

Looking back on my experience viewing Cindy Sherman’s work, I believe I took a lot away from it. I have a new understanding of how intentions are communicated from the artist to the audience. Although I personally did not find all the works visually appealing, I have a new appreciation for Sherman’s creativity and design eye.

Bibliography

Kaplan, Isaac. "How Long Do You Need to Look at a Work of Art to Get It?" Artsy, 26 Jan. 2017, www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-long-work-art-it.

Ambrose, Gavin, and Harris, Paul. Massey Stream: Log in to the Site, stream.massey.ac.nz/pluginfile.php/2322441/mod_label/intro/environmental%20design.pdf.

Mirzoeff, Nicholas. “How to See the World”. Pelican, 2015.

Sherman, Cindy. Untitled #466. City Gallery Wellington, Nov 2016, http://citygallery.org.nz/exhibitions/cindy-sherman

 

Close up of Untitled #466 by Cindy Sherman. Taken by myself at City Gallery Wellington, Mar 2017.

Introducing taiik.

Welcome to my blog! This is a whole new experience for me as I have never blogged before but I cannot wait to get started. I was slightly apprehensive about what I should write about at first, but I thought I'd just share with you everything I love in terms of fashion, design and art, and just see where this blog takes me. Although I will be using this blog as a resource to submit work for my course at Massey University, I want to make it my own as well by keeping it raw and insightful into my life and who I am as an individual.


My name is Isabelle (Izzie) Tui Taikato. I grew up in Nelson, New Zealand and had the best upbringing. I lived on a farm block surrounded by wonderful people who constantly shone positivity into my world. My Mum's parents lived on the same property as my family, so I was raised very much by them as well as my own parents.

In 2003 I started school at Mahana Primary which was about 3km from my home. The bus picked me up every morning, and not long after it was picking up my two younger brothers as well. Growing up at a school with 60 odd kids was great. Knowing everyone by name taught me respect and the lack of students rocketed my leadership skills from a young age. In 2012 I started attending Waimea College, which introduced me into a whole new world of how schooling was done. I had a timetabled day, and different teachers and classrooms for every subject which took a while to get used to. Waimea provided me with some of the best memories I have. I think this is where I truly started to gain a passion for design, especially in clothing.

I had always wanted to be a designer, ever since I was really young. I remember watching American teen films and seeing the main characters create garments to express themselves and embellish fabrics and items to show their individuality. This is really where my interest all started, but the art and design classes at Waimea showed me how much goes into the work and it sparked with me. I became obsessed with the process of scribbling down an idea from your head, altering it and changing elements to suit the need better, then transforming this into something that can be worn and shared in such a practical way. The more I sewed the better I got, and before long I was creating my own patterns for coats and ball gowns. I grew a huge passion for constructing garments and my Materials teacher at the time prompted me to do some research into designers that inspired me and what it was about their work that I loved. This introduced me to Zambesi, one of my favourite New Zealand fashion labels to date.

Zambesi was founded in 1979 by Elisabeth and Neville Findlay. I loved the whole tone of the brand. The sharp finishes, the modern aesthetic... Everything about label worked so well together to create a finished product that reflected both the designer and the consumer. This atmosphere within the work is what inspired me to make my first coat. It was a box cut design with colour blocked layers, reflecting my Zambesi inspiration and their modern tone of clothing design. The process for creating this was a gift in itself because I learnt so much. Making a pattern was not like anything I'd done before. I had by far underestimated the techniques and skills required to put together a pattern, and I have huge respect for people who do it for a living. Although it was challenging, I loved it! It introduced me into an aspect of clothing design I was not familiar with, and I feel so much more confident with it now.

Another source of my inspiration is my favourite artist, Leonid Afremov. He is a Russian-Isreli artist who explores vibrant colours and obvious brush stroke techniques. I think I love his work so much because I feel like it reflects my thoughts. His beautiful scenes and fierce colouring represent something that could only be experienced in the mind of the artist and viewer. This relates well to Cindy Sherman's collection 'Clowns' that I saw at the Wellington City Gallery last week. She wanted the backgrounds of her work to represent something that could only be seen in the viewers mind, something unnatural. Afremov's work is so raw, how the audience can see exactly where the brush has touched the canvas fascinates me.

I hope you have somewhat of an insight into who I am and what it is that makes me love what I do. I will continue to post about my inspirations and where I am up to with my design projects. I have created taiik. as a way to record my fashion thoughts as well as put forward university work, so hope to find the balance between the two.

Model walks for Zambesi in New Zealand Fashion Show, Auckland, 2015.

Goodall, Fiona. "NZFW 2015: Zambesi - Runway". Zimbio, 27th Aug 2015, http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/2IZo6x0RLm-/NZFW+2015+Zambesi+Runway/6IrUtWfazHS

'Spirits by the Lake' by Leonid Afremov. One of my personal favourites.

'Spirits by the Lake'. Afremov, Leonid. "Modern Wall Artt Oil Painting On Canvas By Leonid Afremov - Spirits By The Lake". Etsy, AfremovArtStudio, 11th Mar 2017, https://www.etsy.com/nz/listing/202968513/modern-wall-art-oil-painting-on-canvas?ref=shop_home_feat_2