I saw the fantastic Cindy Sherman retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art this week, which is a stunning collection of her fearless self-portraits. Repeatedly turning the camera on herself – tenderly, unforgivingly, coldly, dispassionately and often humorously – Sherman portrays a seemingly endless list of characters, all made eerily real by her consummate skill as photographer, director, actress, impersonator, performer, costume designer and make-up artist. These characters could comprise the cast of an imaginary, silent and wordless film, to be interpreted as any of us would interpret our own dreams on waking. One thing is for sure; having visited with all of them, it is quite impossible to forget them.

In our culture, in this world, there is so much conversation about lack of privacy, so much effort to control our public personas, so much attention on beauty and perfection and youth, and everything Sherman does flies in the face of that…of self-protection, hiding, privacy. Her willingness to effectively erase any perceived barrier between herself and her viewer, to expose herself in glaring close-up, sometimes simply as herself, but most often as projections of extreme, discomforting, even grotesque people, is almost hypnotic.

As a woman in this culture that is obsessed with beauty and perfection and youth, Sherman’s exploration of emotion, sexuality, fear and decay is all the more powerful. It is bravura and a must-see exhibition.

If you’re in New York the show is up through June 11th. Whether you’re an art lover or not, writer, actor, artist or photographer, I highly recommend it. Love it or hate it, there’s no way you won’t be stirred by the imagery, the subject matter, the captivating Cindy Sherman gang of imaginary people.

Cindy Sherman changed photography and the art of making self-portraits. Click on the below link and you’ll see what I mean.

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/cindysherman/

Giselle