For almost 50 years, the subject of fashion has been a constant in the work of US artist Cindy Sherman. The exhibition “Anti-Fashion” focuses on this close engagement with fashion and approaches her photographic oeuvre from a new perspective. In doing so, it sheds light on the interplay between art and fashion for Sherman uses her numerous commissions from magazines such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar as well as her close collaborations with renowned designers as a constant source of inspiration. Until today the artist continues to influence the aesthetics of the fashion world, creating essential impulses and inspiring a whole generation of photographers. Through the medium of photography, fashion and fine art have always been in dialogue – but Cindy Sherman goes further; she interrogates the system that supports fashion, its glossy surface and its dark underbelly. Her interest in the fashion world is marked by a subversive attitude towards all that it stands for. Thus, her photographs show characters that are anything but desirable and run counter to the conventions of haute couture and the prevalent notions of beauty. Last, but by no means least, the exhibition reveals the subject of fashion as the starting point for the artist’s critical investigation of gender, stereotypes, and age. The wide range of Sherman’s characters highlights the artificiality and changeability of identity, which – now more than ever – is shown to be selectable, (self-)constructed and fluid.
The exhibition is realized in cooperation with Cindy Sherman’s studio in New York and her gallery Hauser & Wirth and will be shown at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg / Falckenberg Collection and the FOMU – Fotomuseum Antwerp afterwards.
Exhibition's trailer
Film about the exhibition
The director on the exhibition
About Cindy Sherman & Drag
For Cindy Sherman, fashion serves as a starting point for her critical questions about gender and stereotypes. For her works, the artist slips into different roles and alters her appearance with makeup, clothing, prosthetics, and digital post-processing. Sherman's wide range of characters reveals the artificiality and mutability of identity, which appears more than ever to be selectable, (self-)constructed, and fluid. Familiar perspectives and thought patterns are questioned and played with from the viewer's point of view. The art form of drag is similar, with drag queens and drag kings slipping into the role of the opposite sex and expressing their invented personalities. In our two-part interview with Stuttgart's most famous drag queen, Vava Vilde, we explore the parallels between Sherman's art and drag art, and show what drag is about. She talks to Claudius Desanti from the queer YouTube channel “Sissy That Talk” about her art and Sherman's art, transforming herself into a brilliant artistic character in the meantime.
Part 1
Part 1 focuses on Vava's makeup and styling, as well as her beginnings and motivation as a drag queen.
Part 2
In Part 2, we take a look at Vava's outfits and talk about her characters and the connection between fashion and art.
Exhibition catalog
A catalog has been published for the exhibition “Cindy Sherman. Anti-Fashion”.
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