Cindy Sherman SF MoMA

What could possibly make a sunny Sunday any better you may ask? - Sacrificing that preciously rare SF sunshine for an art exhibition that proves to be a 100% worth it and then some! This past weekend has found me exhausted and getting increasingly nervous about launching my brand new costume jewelry project due mid-October. Sleepless nights are my only companions these days, locked in my apartment and ordering sushi in…raising those mercury levels and feeling the low of the lowest for a lady who loves to cook! However, logo must be finalized and final website changes made!

And I diverge, which lately has been becoming a habit of mine - a syndrome of total scatterbrain due to the lack of rest and indulgence in reading too many books and articles and going in visual overload on Pinterest. Come Sunday, I fled my apartment desperate to move around and have a change of scenery. My mom joined me, lured in by a promise of an early brunch at a French bistro or other venue boasting outdoor sitting. But before two ladies fully battle their gastronomical cravings, intellectual ones had to be fed as well. So off we went to SF MoMA for a much-anticipated Cindy Sherman photography exhibit. 

Cindy Sherman is one of the most influential photographers who has managed to intrigue, inspire and produce great art for the past forty years. Although Cindy Sherman is internationally recognized for her series of “Untitled Film Stills” (1977-1980), consisting of 69 self-portraits depicting various stereotypes of female roles, I have found myself overwhelmed with abundance and versatility of the artist’s portfolio. The self-portraits of Cindy Sherman set against the backdrop of skyscrapers, propped on a bed or simply standing in the doorway of her bathroom are reminiscent of the film clips stolen from Fellini’s neorealism or Hitchcock’s film noir. Black and white and small in scale (8 1/2 by 11 inches) the photographs are simply numbered, preserving ambiguity and allowing the audience to attach its own meaning to the images at hand. Most of the photographs were taken in Sherman’s apartment, using her own clothes, makeup and props, stripping the portraits of overbearing affectation. Ironically the photographs looked incredibly sincere even though I was fully aware of Sherman’s meticulous staging.

I have been familiar with the “Stills” from brief encounters in my graduate work yet most of Cindy Sherman’s creative reflections have eluded me. As I walked around the gallery I was astonished at discovering how multi-dimensional and innovative a self-portrait could be and how a true artiste could preserve her artistic identity while delighting the audience with ingenuity and wit. Even though Cindy Sherman’s later works still have an underlying social philosophy, contemplating on such diverse topics as sex in the age of AIDS, women’s quest for youth or façade of a clown’s smile, she has made a move away from black and white imagery and abandoned herself in vivid colors.

My favorite series of photographs, however, was Cindy Sherman’s “History Portrait”, a collection of 35 amusing images inspired by the paintings of the greatest Renaissance masters. I will not give any more away since just recalling the exhibition here, made me want to make another trip to the museum. In other words – go…please! The exhibition closes on October 8!

*Images courtesy of Cindy Sherman

Beloved

Seems like "Beloved" will be yet another great movie by Christophe Honore! If it is anything like his "Les chansons d'amour"and given it incredible cast (Catherine Deneuve / Louis Garrel / Chiara Mastroianni / Ludivine Sagnier), it is definitely worth a trip to the cinema or your Netflix queue!

Saltare In Banco

Gorgeous photography by Pierre Manning with a melancholic and edgy reference to circus:

SALTARE IN BANCO

Sweet Monsters

An extraordinary colorful collaboration project featuring photographer Kristina Fender for Naif Magazine:

SWEET MONSTERS

Farewell, My Queen

The movie I have recently seen that might be of interest to all of you film-buffs is “Farewell, my Queen” by Benoît Jacquot. “Farewell, my Queen” based on the best-selling novel by Chantal Thomas is a poignant recollection of the French monarchy’s abrupt and bloodthirsty collapse. Although it does not go into the gory details of the mass executions and guillotine’s blade is not yet in the picture (although it seems they are sharpening it by then), it foreshadows and focuses on the days leading up to them. 

As the ladies-in-waiting shuffle hurriedly through the labyrinth of Versailles, the atmosphere is at once lavish and electrified with tragic heaviness of the violence to come. The pace of the film, a feature I notice more often in the French cinema recently, is somewhat languid. As the final credits were rolling and I was walking out of the theater I could not help but overhear the complaints of the pouring out audience – “slow”, “boring” and “long” were the adjectives tossed around. I do agree that the film was unhurried but would not necessarily attach any negative connotation to it. I believe that it has done more good for the atmosphere of the pre-revolution than if it was bombarded by the fast-shifting events and dynamic plotline. “Farewell, my Queen” is a wholly atmospheric film and atmospheric not in the usual picturesque but emotional way. I admired the director for walking away from the overly publicized beauty of pompous Versailles ballrooms and letting us glimpse at its true identity – that of over glorified dormitory, embellished yet still infested with a rat here and there and accurate of its timeframe. 

Providing a fresh perspective on the revolutionary undercurrents in Paris hinted on by the whispers of the ladies-in-waiting, we are finally getting the middle ground perception on the collapse of the monarchy recalled by the “healthy middle class” – neither the lavish let-them-eat-cake crowd nor the over starved and angered poor. Since the truth lies somewhere in the middle, the perspective of the valets to the king and queen is the closest we can get to understand the events leading up to storming of Bastille. And if you are still not intrigued, Diane Kruger as Marie Antoinette and Lea Seydoux as her loyal and adoring lady-in-waiting Sidonie Laborde are a treat all on their own…sensual and alluring…