Previous exhibition
Cindy Sherman – Tapestries
About the exhibition
Few artists have defined the era of postmodernity as strongly as Cindy Sherman (b. 1954, Glen Ridge, USA). Sherman is known for her series of photographs in which she stages herself in different roles. Her classic photographs were created over many years, but in 2017 a new type of image appeared online. Sherman started sharing 'selfies'.
The sensational images that comment on the whole phenomenon of digitally altered facial features have now taken on a special grandeur and permanence by being translated into a very different medium, the tapestry. In Tapestries, Sherman juxtaposes 21st century face-altering technology with time-honoured traditional craftsmanship in the form of tapestries.
Sherman's 'selfies' began as a series of images she shared on social media. She altered her features using various smartphone apps, creating a wide range of grotesque figures and imaginary characters.
The images are too small and poorly resolved to be converted into large-scale photographs, so instead Sherman uses the craft of tapestry weaving to give the humble, digitally transformed likenesses the same dignity and immutability as the official portraits that have traditionally been created for the nobility and wealthy. This is the first time Cindy Sherman has truly explored a medium beyond photography.
The tapestries in the exhibition are created by master craftsmen in Belgium, where tapestry weaving has been a highly valued practice since the 15th century. Sherman deliberately and delightfully works with the absurdity of transforming something otherwise considered ephemeral and inscribing it in a new state of historical elevation and permanence.
Cindy Sherman is internationally recognised for her work that delves into questions of identity. She examines the role of women in relation to the patriarchal gaze of the film medium and as muse for male surrealist artists; she looks at how fame is constructed and reflected in portraiture as a genre, and she explores the typology of both faces and figures. She has created works that exemplify the ever-changing self that so characterises our era - a hyper-visual time where multiple personalities have become a commodity and gender is fluid.
Reviews
She experiments with social and age-related appearances and not least gender roles. However, it is the individual tactile qualities of the works that mark the exhibition rather than the range of motifs, which in a sometimes kitschy form adds a new dimension to Cindy Sherman's self-realisation
Jyllands-Posten
It's more cheerful to observe these works as a manifestation of Cindy Sherman's sense of humour. As if she is saying: In the old days, before the infinite reproducibility of the photographic and digital image, there were only really difficult ways to make images with the tedious labour of the hand: oil paintings, tapestries ...
Politiken
In Tapestries, Cindy Sherman once again demonstrates her masterful ability to transform something familiar - in this case the selfie - into something alien and decidedly uncomfortable.
Information
On reflection, there is something touchingly beautiful about the mother of postmodern photography putting her selfie characters, who struggle to look their best in defiance of gender and age norms, on something as noble as a tapestry. Amidst all the fun, in her new format, she gives her new archetypes a kind of respect. Respect for that, Cindy Sherman.
Berlingske
Sherman has transformed a selection of his tiny Instagram photos into tapestries just under three metres high, woven in various types of yarn by employees of old Belgian tapestry workshops. And let me immediately recall my own scepticism: it works, it lasts.
Weekendavisen
Special thanks to
CAC Foundation
Aarhus Stifttidendes Foundation
STIBOFONDEN