From April 21, an exhibition by the American artist Cindy Sherman on the subject of anti-fashion will be running in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. For almost 50 years, the theme of fashion has been a common thread through the work of the artist, who is one of the best-known contemporary artists of our time. The now 69-year-old was already famous in the 1970s for her self-portrayals in various costumes and her confrontation with identity, role models and femininity.
The exhibition “Anti-Fashion” illuminates her photographic work from a new perspective. Through the medium of photography, fashion and fine arts have always been in dialogue – but Cindy Sherman also questions the entire fashion system with all its abysses. Her interest in the fashion world shows a subversive attitude towards what fashion represents. Her photographs show figures and stagings that appear anything but desirable and thus contradict all conventions of haute couture and the usual ideas of beauty.
Fashion also opens up the possibility of critically examining the question of gender, stereotypes and dealing with aging. Sherman’s wide range of characters demonstrates the artificiality and mutability of identity, which appears more than ever selectable, (self-)constructed, and fluid.
The exhibition runs until September 10th and is organized by the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart in cooperation with the Deichtorhallen / Falckenberg Collection and the FOMU – Fotomuseum Antwerpen.