CINDY SHERMAN

I first came across the work of Cindy Sherman whilst working at MOMA here in Oxford the art magazines featured her early work and I was immediately fascinated. Was she a photographer? Was she an actor? What was she and where was the art?

She is a first in so many ways, a pioneer of artist as media, dressing up and transforming as art and photographing the results. Check out some of these . . . . . she may put you on the back foot and you don't always know where she is or even if such transformations are even possible, play acting in front of the lens with no photo trickery as such. She is unique!

I think this may be amongst the first images I saw and thought . . . . . . Okay where is the art?

Is it a film still? A painting? What is it? What am I seeing here?

Were they stills from French films we didn't know?

Were they Jean Seberg, French Nouvelle Vague?

Untitled Film Stills taken from films we did not know?

As she gradually become more theatrical and 'out there' you could tell her material was herself

Seen out of context of art or her 'label' you couldn't always tell still what was depicted and/or was it her? Was it art? A reference to Hollywood? Was this still Cindy?

Some stayed still disquietingly recognisable and we wondered at the 'message'!

She did eventually use photo distortion but still we pondered what we were even looking at

Even at the weirdest did we really know what was happening here?

What was she 'saying'

Even much later throughout the personal oeuvre of her work that would throw us. Was this still Cindy as material? Was this still always her, Cindy? (Clue: it was!)