Oops, Cindy Sherman designed a pool float

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/26/oops-cindy-sherman-designed-a.html

3 Likes

I need this just as much as I need a private swimming pool.

9 Likes

Not quite weird enough.

4 Likes

“I’ll take what’s behind door number four, Monty”

“But that’s the studio exit, contestant.”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

ETA:

10 Likes

It’s like buying a piece of art from one of many internet fronts where one can choose between a print, a framed print or that same print on a coffee mug, a shower curtain, a balloon, a sheet set or condom wrapper.

7 Likes

Sorry, but I want an up-to-date pool float with a notch.

5 Likes

That is… not good.

12 Likes

What’s messing with my head isn’t the glitch in the photo but that Sherman doesn’t look remotely like she’s in her mid 60’s in that image. Not sure if she has a painting in her attic that isn’t looking so good, or not.

2 Likes

Mid 60’s? The woman in the pic? no, no way. 35-40 tops.

Exactly. Hence my confusion.

3 Likes

The expression in this photo somewhat covers my reaction:
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1992.5147/

Here’s a recent one from her instagram account for comparison:

Looks like she’s using the filters to both age herself up and down:

6 Likes

Makes the accidental glitch story seem a bit less clear.

Art is tricky. If that instagram you posted was posted in one of the Photoshop forums, people would pick it apart for sloppy use of the Photoshop liquefy tool - not for the unrealistic distortion, mind you, but doing it in a somewhat “inept” manner.

I’ve never known quite what to make of Cindy Sherman’s work since I first saw it in the 80’s. I coudn’t quite match the results with the relative fame.

6 Likes

Sure, but that could be her entire point. I think she’s generally traded in the whole spectacular aspect of photography, a medium that our society generally associates with reflecting reality. It could be she’s trying to point out the entirely constructed nature of selfies on platforms like instagram by making her alterations so obvious…

I’m not an expert on her work by any means, but that’s generally what I’ve personally gotten out of it. YMMV, of course.

5 Likes

Almost the very definition of art. :slight_smile:

(Well, except for the whole thing where an elite cadre of gallery owners determine what art is and who is allowed to buy it, to artificially inflate “art” prices.)

If you got an hour or so, you might enjoy this talk between bell hooks, Theaster Gates, and Laurie Anderson… I’m reminded of that because when Gates starts talking about the bank the bought from the city of Chicago for $1, that he mentions how he’s creating alternative structures within the chicago art scene that’s dominated by (generally white, upper class) gallery owners:

The Laurie Anderson portion is great and she talks about the project she did a couple of years ago with a former gitmo detainee.

5 Likes

Depends on what you fill the pool with… :scream:

1 Like

Yeah, I dunno’, this looks like it’s intended to be about… whadda’ ya’ call’em… taste-makers (or setters, I guess).
Seems on it to me.

An accident doesn’t make it art!

But it can still be fun. :grinning:

3 Likes