Cindy Sherman at Spruth Magers

Cindy Sherman at Spruth Magers

12 January, 2011
by: Alexchappel

Decima Gallery's Alex Chappel braves the private view throngs to ponder Cindy Sherman's latest offerings.

For her latest batch of new works Cindy Sherman has presented us with quite a dramatic departure from the framed print, almost in a way so distinct from her previous work, that if it wasn’t for the trademark alter-ego dressing-up-contest elements, a less accustomed mortal might think they’ve walked into a Gilbert & George show. Sherman is still the subject of her pictures, as she pretty much has been since the '70s, but this time she stands ten or twelve feet tall, towering over the private view throng with a commanding presence.

The decadently situated yet modestly sized Spruth Magers consists of two main galleries and every square wall inch of both (and the adjoining mini-corridor) is wallpapered with Sherman’s latest prints, in each at least one full-colour Sherman standing before a backdrop of etching-type woodland scenes. In each one she has a different wig and costume, and slightly different features, as Sherman, like G&G before her, has joined the wagon of digital manipulation. Where once she would rely on careful lighting and make-up to mark out the differences between her various selves, she's now photoshopping her face into having a slightly larger, redder nose here, or more close-together eyes there. The face, I guess, being our instinctive benchmark for recognising people, this turns out a simple yet effective means of subterfuge.

Somewhat in contrast to such subtleties (and along with the unnecessarily gargantuan scale of these works) Sherman seems to have gone the other way in her costumes and wigs, and seems to be deliberately not trying too hard, wearing in most cases a dodgy fancy-dress costume get-up, and even in one case the most unconvincing naked suit one would hope to find outside of a Mr Bean set. If we get beyond the throngs and look down, we also notice incongruous footwear such as trainers, and in one I noticed a different shoe on each foot.

In many pictures, Sherman's pose smacks of the unwilling boy shepherd wheeled on to a nativity play set against his will: dressed ridiculously, all he wants to do is to go home. “I’m bored of this,” he thinks. “Stop dressing me up in silly costumes.” I can’t help wondering whether this might be Cindy’s mini-protest against the art world’s expectations of her, however self-inflicted they may be.

These works are deliberately decorative, after a French toile style, and fit that bill, but no Sherman show can pass without mentioning the cul-de-sac in which she has imprisoned herself since the '70s, and I for one cannot help but wonder if she even could go in a different direction.

Or has the constant search for a means of assuming another identity backfired, and Sherman ironically ended up artistically type-casting herself? It happens to many artists. However, whilst if I ever see another cast of Gormley I might just have to impale myself on it, Sherman’s constant search for new angles on the alter-ego does still seem to be bearing fruit.

Cindy Sherman is at Spruth Magers until 19th February 2011.

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Alexchappel