The Globe and Mail - 02.11.2019

R6 PHOTOGRAPHY O THEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019

A

t the Vancouver Art Gallery, your

immersion into Cindy Sherman

begins immediately. Walk

through the admission doors,

and you are surrounded by eight different

versions of her in a single, wraparound

mural. In one portrait, she sports an ana-

tomically correct baggy beige body suit

and comfy grey socks, holding a Merlin-

like sword. In another, she dorkily pairs a

pink and white floral dress with running

shoes; in her gardening gloved-hands she

holds a bounty of scallions.

These different personas – seven in col-

our, one black and white – share an aes-

thetic and, of course, a model. They are

set huge against a pastoral black and

white landscape: a calm body of water,

large leafy trees, the backgrounds mirror-

images of each other. The monumental

2010 mural – the first piece you encounter

and also the last – is a larger-than-life wel-

come, beckoning.

Step inside, folks. To the carnival that is

Sherman’s imagination.

Sherman, who was born in New Jersey

in 1954 and lives in New York, assumes

different roles and characters for her por-

traits, using her body, her face and most

compellingly, her brain.

This retrospective is her first major ex-

hibition in Canada in 20 years. It includes

some 170 works, includingUntitled #603,

2019, a Sicilian balcony-set new work cre-

ated for the Vancouver show, being exhib-

ited for the first time. The other works in

the show date as far back as 1975, when

Sherman was an art student at State Uni-

versity College at Buffalo and experiment-

ing with her own image.

It is a continuing experiment that has

made her one of the world’s foremost

conceptual photographers; one of the

world’s most influential artists, period.

Sherman famously plays with her own

image and photographic technology to

take on a role and create a fully realized

scene. The works are almost always unti-

tled, so you, the viewer, can come up with

your own story.

She works rigorously and on her own.

She is the conceiver, the prop-gatherer,

the makeup artist, the prosthetic-placer,

the model, the image manipulator, the

Photoshopper, the everything. (One job

she sometimes has to hand off to some-

one else out of necessity is the taking of

the photograph itself.)

You walk through the show and are ex-

posed to her image again and again. And

yet, if she walked into the gallery and

brushed by you, you might not know it

was her. I wouldn’t, anyway.

There is Sherman the young art stu-

dent, naked and bound in electrical cords

that also become bikinis and self-explo-

sive devices in a series of photos,Air Shut-

ter Release Fashions, 1975. There is Sher-

man as a forlorn teenager inUntitled #90,

1981, lying on a couch, her droopy eyes

staring at the 1970s-era phone she had

been hoping would ring. InUntitled #165,

1985, an androgynous figure in a baggy

gingham dress is barefoot and buck-

toothed, perched behind a tree in a dark

forest – looking terrified, but also terrify-

ing. Is Sherman playing the monster

about to pop out from behind the tree, or

the victim, hiding behind it? Is s/he pred-

ator or prey?

InUntitled #216, 1989, she is a crowned

Madonna with child, a bulbous prosthetic

breast poking out, in a photograph that

honours and parodies Renaissance paint-

ing. InUntitled #474, 2008 she becomes a

society woman, a patron posed against

the background of portraits at the Nation-

al Arts Club in New York, dressed in a

sequined gown that screams affluence,

her nails perfectly done, expertly placed

streaks of grey in her coiffed hair, and

glossy lips, which appear to have been

subject to some sort of cosmetic proce-

dure.

Then inUntitled #545, 2010/12 she is

dressed in snow white vintage Chanel,

right down to matching gloves and del-

icate, impractical boots,

posed against the rugged

earthy landscape of Iceland.

Does this sound repeti-

tive? Oh no. It’s fantastic.

A Sherman image on its

own offers a bring-your-

own-interpretation delight.

But the depth of this retro-

spective allows for a rare im-

mersion into her work and

insight into her process.

The show is presented

somewhat but not strictly

chronologically and in-

cludes work from her major

series, includingRear Screen

Projections, Centerfolds, Masks, Clowns, Flap-

pers, Fashion, Fairy TalesandUntitled Film

Stills– the career-defining 1977-80 series

created to look like publicity stills from

movie sets.

There are three segments from herCov-

er Girlseries, each featuring three maga-

zine covers: the original (Cosmopolitan,

Redbook and Vogue), a second version

where Sherman has made herself up to

resemble the original cover model, and a

third where, still in model mode, Sher-

man makes a funny face. The magazines

promote articles such as “How to Calm

Men’s Fears About Women’s Growing

Strength,” and “Orgasm Is Yours If You

Follow These Simple Instructions.”

One gallery holds several works from

herSex Picturesseries, created with dolls,

mannequins and other props. Explicit

and creepy, these works earn their “may

not be suitable for some viewers” warn-

ing.

In the four corners of the exhibition

are floor-to-ceiling photo reproductions

of Sherman’s New York studio.

In one corner, her bookshelves are

loaded with volumes about art, sex,

makeup and more, as well as vinyl re-

cords, CDs, and various bric-a-brac, in-

cluding two ABBA dolls (the men) and a

small framed photo of Sherman and a

childhood friend dressed up as old wom-

en, taken around 1966.

In the next corner, we see Sherman’s

mood board, which includes photos of

early Hollywood starlets, a Jennifer An-

iston magazine cover and a painted image

of Barack Obama.

In the third corner, we see her props –

wigs, prosthetics, a stuffed animal, bins

filled with who knows what? And in the

final corner, another spot in her studio

that is essential to her practice: her or-

ange makeup trolley set against her green

screen.

A Cindy Sherman show of this breadth

would be momentous anywhere, for sure.

But this retrospective, organized by the

National Portrait Gallery in London in col-

laboration with the VAG, feels particularly

important in Vancouver, like it has landed

in the right place.

Vancouver is a ground ze-

ro for conceptual photogra-

phy – home to the ac-

claimed photoconceptualist

Jeff Wall, as well as Rodney

Graham, Stan Douglas, Ian

Wallace and others who

have become associated

with what has come to be

loosely known as the Van-

couver School. It is really ex-

citing to look at Sherman’s

work in that context. She,

too, is a conceptualist, giv-

ing us tableaux that set our

minds on fire.

Sherman’s work was developed sepa-

rately and distinctly from what is happen-

ing in Vancouver, but there are parallels

that exist, if only in the viewing. For in-

stance,Untitled Film Still #37, 1979, where

Sherman poses next to a white brick fire-

place and landscape painting, a stack of

newspapers on a chair next to her,

brought to mind Graham’s The Gifted

Amateur, Nov 10th, 1962. In this triptych,

Graham portrays an artist creating an ab-

stract painting, newspapers scattered all

over the floor, a white stone fireplace in

the corner.

This is work that has emerged out of

different contexts and conditions, but it

shares a zeitgeist.

Still, Sherman brings us something that

is vastly different; for one thing, eliminat-

ing entirely – other than to critique – the

male gaze.

Cindy Sherman is at the Vancouver Art

Gallery until March 8.

AnimmersionintheworldofCindySherman

Theconceptualphotographer,whoassumesdifferentrolesandcharactersforherportraits,

isseeingherfirstmajorexhibitioninCanadain20years,MarshaLedermanwrites

This depth

of this

retrospective

allows for a rare

immersion into

Sherman’s work

and insight into

her process.

Top left: Cindy

Sherman,

Untitled Film

Still #16, 1978.

Top right:

Untitled Film

Still #48, 1979.

Bottom left:

There are three

segments from

Sherman’s

Cover Girl

series, each

featuring three

magazine

covers.

Bottom right:

Untitled #588,

2016/18.

BOTTOMLEFT:

CINDYSHERMAN/

COURTESYOF

THEARTISTAND

METROPICTURES,

NEWYORK

Youwalkthrough

theshowandare

exposedtoher

imageagainand

again.Andyet,ifshe

walkedintothe

galleryandbrushed

byyou,youmight

notknowitwasher.

Iwouldn’t,anyway.

Cindy Sherman’s works are almost always untitled, so you, the viewer, can come up with your own story. Here: Untitled #546, 2010/12.PHOTOSBYCINDYSHERMAN