Cindy Sherman at the Broad
“Imitation of Life” show at The Broad L.A.
For it’s first major exhibition since it opened its doors in downtown Los Angeles, The Broad presented “Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life,” a comprehensive survey of this influential artist’s work over four decades, last summer and fall. It featured nearly 120 photographs by Sherman (most from the Broad’s extensive collection), as well as the 1997 film Office Killer, which she directed.
“Surprisingly, there hasn’t been a major museum exhibition of Cindy Sherman’s work in Los Angeles in nearly two decades, and much of her work is influenced by and connected to the world of Hollywood,” said the show’s guest curator, Philipp Kaiser. “From her ‘film stills’ series to her ‘rear projections’ and her films, her massive body of work comments on and speaks to the limitless stream of visual material available to us today via cinema, television, advertising, media, the Internet and art itself. Cindy helped to craft the title of the exhibition, ‘Imitation of Life,’ which is a reference to Douglas Sirk’s 1959 film adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s novel, which deals with intensely emotional struggles with identity.”
Sherman’s photographs are a kind of performance art, which usually feature herself as a model in the guise of some stereotyped female role, in a setting staged in her studio. They question the nature of personal identity and of art in a relentlessly provocative manner. And that, of course, makes her a PROVOKR favorite.
