Everyone thinks these are self-portraits but they aren't meant to be. I just use myself as a model because I know I can push myself to extremes, make each shot as ugly or goofy or silly as possible. Cindy Sherman More Quotes by Cindy Sherman More Quotes From Cindy Sherman Nowadays, with digital printing, it's so easy to make everything perfect, which is not always a good idea. Sometimes the mistakes are really what make a piece. Cindy Sherman photography mistake art I’m trying to make other people recognize something of themselves rather than me. Cindy Sherman trying people I like making images that from a distance seem kind of seductive, colorful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you're looking at is something totally opposite. It seems boring to me to pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It's more challenging to look at the other side. Cindy Sherman distance opposites ideas I didn't want to make 'high' art, I had no interest in using paint, I wanted to find something that anyone could relate to without knowing about contemporary art. I wasn't thinking in terms of precious prints or archival quality; I didn't want the work to seem like a commodity. Cindy Sherman knowing art thinking Being able to make a living doing something one truly loves to do - is my definition of success. Cindy Sherman I wanted to create something that people could relate to without having read a book about it beforehand. Cindy Sherman book people art The still must tease with the promise of a story the viewer of it itches to be told. Cindy Sherman photographer stories promise Early in my career, a critic said that I needed to "explain" the irony in my work, suggesting that I needed to add text next to the images to help people understand what I was trying to say. At first I was dismayed that I wasn't making work with a clear enough message. That's when I realized that that was the exact opposite of what I wanted to do - that I wasn't responsible for a misinterpretation of my work, that there should be some ambiguity to it. They either got it, or they didn't. Cindy Sherman careers opposites people The work is what it is and hopefully it's seen as feminist work, or feminist-advised work, but I'm not going to go around espousing theoretical bullshit about feminist stuff. Cindy Sherman feminist-art bullshit stuff I am always surprised at all the things people read into my photos, but it also amuse me. That may be because I have nothing specific in mind when I'm working. My intentions are neither feminist nor political. I try to put double or multiple meanings into my photos, which might give rise to a greater variety of interpretations. Cindy Sherman feminist giving people We're all products of what we want to project to the world. Even people who don't spend any time, or think they don't, on preparing themselves for the world out there - I think that ultimately they have for their whole lives groomed themselves to be a certain way, to present a face to the world. Cindy Sherman people world thinking If I knew what the picture was going to be like I wouldn’t make it. It was almost like it was made already – the challenge is more about trying to make what you can’t think of. Cindy Sherman challenges trying thinking One reason I was interested in photography was to get away from the preciousness of the art object. Cindy Sherman photography photographer art I feel I'm anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself; they aren't self-portraits. Sometimes I disappear. Cindy Sherman portraits self looks I don't think I can see the world through other people's eyes, but I can capture an attitude or a look that makes others think I can. I have an appreciation for why people choose to look the way they do. But I can't know what they experience. Cindy Sherman eye attitude appreciation I didn't think of what I was doing as political. To me it was a way to make the best out of what I liked to do privately, which was to dress up. Cindy Sherman political dresses thinking In horror stories or in fairy tales, the fascination with the morbid is also, at least for me, a way to prepare for the unthinkable… That’s why it’s very important for me to show the artificiality of it all, because the real horrors of the world are unmatchable, and they’re too profound. It’s much easier to absorb – to be entertained by it, but also to let it affect you psychologically – if it’s done in a fake, humorous, artificial way. Cindy Sherman horror-stories humorous real [My work is] maybe about me maybe not wanting to be me and wanting to be all these other characters. Or at least try them on. Cindy Sherman cindy trying character Inconsiderate, rude behavior drives me nuts. And I guess the inconsiderate rudeness of social ineptitude definitely fuels my work. Cindy Sherman fuel rude nuts I’m really just using the mirror to summon something I don’t even know until I see it. Cindy Sherman mirrors photographer knows
