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.
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