Yesterday, I received my latest favorite art book in the mail. It is Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills. This book is an amazing collection of her entire B&W Film Stills from 1977 to 1980. Ever since my dear friend Dennis Nothdruft introduced me to her work I’ve been a fan. But this newly discovered collection, of which I’ve only seen a few images, is turning out to be a big influence on my creative thought process.
Cindy Sherman wrote the summary for the book, to some criticism. I’m not usually a fan of artists discussing there own work. They are too close to the subject, censor their true feelings, and usually lack the vocabulary to properly describe their work in the broader context of the art world. The downside of having an art critic write the summary is they tend to obfuscate the topic with their large vocabulary and knowledge of art and just seem to like to ‘hear themselves talk’. Cindy completely circumvents the need to overcome the difficulty of self analysis by simply explaining her motivation and thought process behind the photos. It is refreshing to hear the artist explain her creative process in her own words; to find that it can be as simple as just taking some photos. Art critics are notorious for over thinking the process. A simple smudge of paint or accidental chemical mix turns into some grandiose intellectual challenge to the entire historical evolution of art. Blah, blah, blah. As the great Freud once admitted, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
The strange coincidence was that I had been floating this idea around in my head for a year or so as a way to mount my 8mm Film Stills. I hadn’t already done this because of the rather large problem of enlarging an 8mm image to 2 feet by 3 feet or larger. Still working on that but do have the light box designed and most of the raw material sourced. As soon as I get my first photo mounted I will post a photograph of it here for you all to see.
