The first New Zealand solo exhibition in more than 25 years by internationally-acclaimed artist Cindy Sherman opens at City Gallery Wellington on Saturday 19 November.
New York-based Sherman is widely considered one of the most influential artists living today. Her practice has challenged and shaped the way we think about contemporary photography and her works confront stereotypes and cultural clichés, probing at society’s fascination with issues surrounding the representation of women and the cult of celebrity.
City Gallery Director Elizabeth Caldwell says, “For the last 40 years, Sherman has garnered considerable international attention, exhibited around the world and made a huge impact with her complex character studies—I am thrilled that City Gallery is bringing this major exhibition to New Zealand.”
Cindy Sherman features over 50 large-scale photographs created since 2000, and includes images from fashion house collaborations with Balenciaga 2007¬–08, and Chanel 2010–2013 as well as the iconic ‘Head shots’ 2000-02, ‘Clowns’ 2003–04 and ‘Society portraits’ from 2008. The exhibition also includes her most recent series referencing old Hollywood glamour along with a large scale, site-specific mural.
City Gallery Wellington Curator Aaron Lister says, “Visitors will get a rich sense of everything Sherman has made since 2000. She works in discrete and bounded series—this exhibition samples generously from every series from the last 16 years. We see Sherman reappearing as a model or a character in her photographs, and also her embrace of digital photography to open new possibilities or worlds for these characters to inhabit.”
There will also be a related exhibition of Sherman’s found photographs, albums and scrapbooks. This collection of other people’s photographs—some of which were first shown at the 2013 Venice Biennale—demonstrates how she trawls the collective image bank of culture, and her fascination with how other people present themselves through photography.
Accompanying the exhibition there will also be a series of film screenings—many of which have been selected by Sherman—that have informed her practice, including her own film, Office Killer (1997).
The extensive list of supporting events, including Tuatara Open Late, talks and panels will be announced in early November. More information on these and the film screenings can be found on the Events page.
Cindy Sherman is a Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art touring exhibition.
City Gallery Wellington is the only New Zealand venue.
Cindy Sherman
City Gallery Wellington, Civic Square | From 19 November 2016 – 19 March 2017
Read more about the exhibition
Entry
$12 General Admission / $8 Concession
Free for City Gallery Friends and Children under 12
Tickets available at main entry or book online here
About the Artist Born in 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Cindy Sherman is one of the most influential artists of the last half-century. After graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1976, Sherman relocated to New York City where she began making the influential Untitled Film Stills and where she continues to live and work today. Sherman has an extensive exhibition history. The Museum of Modern Art, New York organized a retrospective in 2012 that travelled to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2012); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2012); Dallas Museum of Art (2012). Her most recent major one-person shows include Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo (2013); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2014); Kunsthaus Zurich (2014) and The Broad, LA (2016).
