Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman born in 1954 is an american photographer and film director, best known for her conceptual portraits. According to research Film has been a huge influence in Cindy's work. Since being a teenager she was fully steeped in Mass media culture and much of her work has been inspired from a wide range of genres such as Horror and classic art films.
Her work
"Sherman works in series, typically photographing herself in a range of costumes. To create her photographs, Sherman shoots alone in her studio, assuming multiple roles as author, director, make-up artist, hairstylist, wardrobe mistress—and, of course, model."- wikipedia.

"Sherman emerged fully formed on the New York art scene in the early 1980s with a series of untitled film stills. It was a brilliantly novel concept – grainy shots of movies that never existed, created with such panache and knowing that you felt they must do. She was a dream for cultural studies professors the world over. Few artists embraced their contradictions so easily. She took photos of herself that were anything but self-portraits; photos that stuck two fingers at the then received wisdom that the camera never lies – her camera always lied. And, through her deceits, she looked for truths about identity, vulnerability and power. The feminists claimed her as theirs, as did the postmodernists, the post-structuralists, the post-everythings. But there was nothing clean or prescriptive about her art. Sherman's work has always been a vibrant mush of ideas." - Hatterston. S, The Guardian



 I will look at Cindy's work in relation to the un-canny. I think its a brilliant idea that Cindy herself stars in all her series. She knows what emotion she wants out of the picture, she knows what she wants to create and perceive and who better to do it than herself to get the job done. In relation to her pictures I think they are extremely creepy, she has used the emotion of fear as an emotive, for example the clowns, 'coulrophobia' is a major fear within modern day people and she has exploited this. Most of the imaging is up close so we get a direct view. The imaging is simple with only one main focus. With a few of her images she uses a lot of prosthetics, to make herself in to an animal  or to extended certain features just like the above pictures which is un-canny. I rather like her work at first they scared me and I wondered why she would create such things, but its obviously done to create a reaction, she entices her audience (those of which dare look at the pictures).

www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films (Film Exhibition. Carte Blanche: Cindy Sherman, 2012) ONLINE, Accessed 12/03/2013.