Take a Walk- Walk in any one direction for 30 minutes, stopping every 10 minutes to construct something with the things you find around you. Document it. As you go, choose some of the things you find and take them with you. Construct a fourth thing with the items you take with you. Document it.
I decided to complete this recent assignment from my senior art seminar by taking a walk on the wilderness trail near my house. Needless to say, I thought I hit the jackpot when I ran across the Pineapple Express container.
Mr Winkle: Object of Projection: Also on show at the Utah MOCA was perhaps the most adorable contemporary photo exhibition I have ever seen. After rescuing Mr. Winkle from the side of a highway, photographer Lara Jo Regan took the canine on as her muse. The photos in this exhibition critique classical forms of portraiture all via the face of Mr. Winkle. Exploring “the nature of cuteness itself,” Mr Winkle: Object of Projection is on view until October 20th.
Cindy Sherman, Doll Clothes: Along with photographs, the Cindy Sherman retrospective at MoMA also featured some of her early video and collage works. This video, Doll Clothes (1975), was shot on Super 8 film when Sherman was in college.
Cindy Sherman Retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art: Currently on display in MoMA’s sixth floor Tisch exhibition gallery are the nearly complete works of Cindy Sherman. An American born photographer, Sherman’s works explore the methods and messages of photography by using herself as both model and photographer. Sherman’s photographs attack and critique an array of social constructs, from exploring the male gaze on the female body in her centerfold series (1981) to commenting on the taboo of aging in her society portraits series (2008).
Cindy Sherman’s photographs function as collective units, each series making a clear and unified statement, both in artistic message and in aesthetics. As her career and technology have both progressed, Sherman has also shifted from film and back-lit projections to digital and computer imaging. For example, for “ILLUMInations” (2010), the larger than life photo murals seen in MoMA’s sixth floor lobby that were first exhibited at the 2011 Venice Biennale, Sherman manipulated her features with computer software rather than with prosthetics and makeup, elongating her nose or narrowing her eyes to create her diverse cast of characters.
As an avid fan of Sherman’s work, what struck me most at the MoMA exhibition was seeing the “Untitled Film Stills” series (1977-80) in its entirety. While I had seen several of them before, either in textbooks, on the internet, or in museums, seeing all 70 photos together was truly captivating. Posing as classic female figures from 1950s and 60s Hollywood film noir, this early work creates a narrative that threatens to suck the viewer in. Creating snapshots of stolen moments, the anonymity of these photos long for a script to tie them together, leaving the story telling up to the viewer.
And if you haven’t already seen it, this is an exhibition you should rush to - the show closes on June 11th! Click here for exhibition details.
