If you want a lover, I'll do anything you ask me to. If you want another kind of love, well, I'll wear a mask for you. If you want a partner take my hand. Or if you wanna strike me down in anger, here I stand. I'm your man.
-Leonard Cohen.
Last weekend I went to see a Cindy Sherman photographic retrospective. Cindy Sherman is an out-and-about American artist that has this unique characteristic: she is the subject and the object of all her works. So after a couple of hours wandering and wondering in front of this lady's glance (from a chamber-maid costume, a clown wig, and a 'La Dolce Vita' -kind of- film still), the spectator ends up seizing a unique lady with such a strong personality that is utterly her no matter what she's wearing. The composition is beautiful, the communication very strong yet slightly unilateral. There was her posing and taking the picture, so the creation began in her head and found all the way through the printed paper.
The big thought of the week was however the masks we wear each day. Some people is good at hiding, so they accommodate to life as comes. Good manners is all about putting others at ease, an advisor says. It is easy to think that one's personality prevails over anything we want to hide, but I'm not that sure about it. There are people I meet that are so hard to guess that I end up giving up. Of course there are 'one-layered' individuals that do not require much effort, but I mean that barriers are there in the form of shyness of even good manners. What are we afraid of? Boundaries do not only keep people out - they set you in.
Going back to Cindy Sherman, the series that I liked the most was 'Pink Robes' (as her critics call it - she only numbers her photos). The pictures depict this lady in a robe, looking as if waking up. The intimacy and vulnerability that those items transmit is explained by the curator as 'naturligheden er en slags forklædning', 'naturalness is a kind of disguise'. Aren't we supposed to be at ease, at our best, when we do not pretend to be? Being 'natural' can also be overacted: I always brush my teeth before the morning coffee when I wake up with somebody, but not when I'm alone.
Post script: The picture on the left is a naked building. I loved its vulnerability and how happy it looks from the left angle whilst the right one has been teared off. Cheap allegory of any drama you can think of.
-Leonard Cohen.
Last weekend I went to see a Cindy Sherman photographic retrospective. Cindy Sherman is an out-and-about American artist that has this unique characteristic: she is the subject and the object of all her works. So after a couple of hours wandering and wondering in front of this lady's glance (from a chamber-maid costume, a clown wig, and a 'La Dolce Vita' -kind of- film still), the spectator ends up seizing a unique lady with such a strong personality that is utterly her no matter what she's wearing. The composition is beautiful, the communication very strong yet slightly unilateral. There was her posing and taking the picture, so the creation began in her head and found all the way through the printed paper.
The big thought of the week was however the masks we wear each day. Some people is good at hiding, so they accommodate to life as comes. Good manners is all about putting others at ease, an advisor says. It is easy to think that one's personality prevails over anything we want to hide, but I'm not that sure about it. There are people I meet that are so hard to guess that I end up giving up. Of course there are 'one-layered' individuals that do not require much effort, but I mean that barriers are there in the form of shyness of even good manners. What are we afraid of? Boundaries do not only keep people out - they set you in.
Going back to Cindy Sherman, the series that I liked the most was 'Pink Robes' (as her critics call it - she only numbers her photos). The pictures depict this lady in a robe, looking as if waking up. The intimacy and vulnerability that those items transmit is explained by the curator as 'naturligheden er en slags forklædning', 'naturalness is a kind of disguise'. Aren't we supposed to be at ease, at our best, when we do not pretend to be? Being 'natural' can also be overacted: I always brush my teeth before the morning coffee when I wake up with somebody, but not when I'm alone.
Post script: The picture on the left is a naked building. I loved its vulnerability and how happy it looks from the left angle whilst the right one has been teared off. Cheap allegory of any drama you can think of.
No comments:
Post a Comment