“ 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
I entered the ocean shores art expo last year about this time of the year and got a minor prize in the photography section and the judges compared my art to the American artist Cindy Sherman who dresses up in costumes and the images she makes from these photo shoots are amazing.
“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”
Charlie Chaplin
The first costume shoot I have done was the Chaplin one and his work was made up of both slap stick comedy and serious social issues of his day.
Other actors, musicians and artists I want to do dress up shoots of include the following with the following You Tube excerpts and photos. I probably won’t do all of them as the costumes are expensive even to hire and my ideas change so rapidly.
Most of these characters and people I have really loved and in some cases tried to imitate while I was growing up but now by dressing up as them literally, I am trying to get that out of my system. Kurt Cobain said:
“Trying to be someone else is a waste of the person who you are.’
I wasn’t sure if I should write this essay as I don’t want to annoy and make fun of the creatives that I have and will parody but it was more inspired by the TV show The Big Bang Theory where the nerdy characters love dressing up as mainly comic book characters but also sci fi characters and famous scientists not because they want to make fun of them but because they love them so much. They wear these costumes to Comic Con and dress up parties.
The following You Tube video about Cindy Sherman’s art at MOMA in New York is a very interesting insight into the ideas behind her work. How mass media representations shape us | Cindy Sherman …
In conclusion as its Halloween today I want to write about the fun of dressing up that a lot of kids enjoy on this day dressing up but I hope adults keep it up to stay young and free at heart.