If there is one thing I cannot stand (and one thing that scares the living poo out of me) it's clowns. And if
there's one things I cannot fathom is why certain artists choose to utilize clown images in their artwork…no good at
all. (Funny little side note: I actually quit my last job as a Gallery Director because they wanted to do a clown show
and didn't heed my protests).
Anyway, you can imagine my horror, quite literally, when some friends and I were having drinks last weekend and they
mentioned that Cindy Sherman's new exhibition at Metro Pictures is her dressed up like clowns! Ah! Now here's why it
hurts…I love Cindy Sherman's work. The "Untitled Film Stills"...genius. The image of her lying dead Twin-Peaks-style in
the grass…breathtaking. Her challenging notions of originality, self, and image…wonderful. But clowns..now that's just
plain wrong!
I don't know if other people feel this way about the "clown issue" but I would imagine that many feel it's a great
novelty. Not too long ago there was a book and exhibition in Los Angeles based on the clown collections of Diane
Keaton. Shudder to think about it. Maybe it's just a childhood fear many people my age have who, whenever they think of
clowns, they imagine It's red balloon coming out of the sewer gate. Clowns also remind me of dirty old men who like to
be around kids.
If this sort of thing scares you too, then I would suggest a concurrent show of Sherman's work at Montclair Art
Museum in Montclair, N.J. called "The Unseen Cindy Sherman: Early Transformations (1975-76)".
1. What I thought was interesting about this show was Sherman's confrontational use of what has become a widely acknowledged, yet also fairly cliche fear that most adults claim to have. I wonder if she intended to perpetuate the fear or to address the cliche. Either way, I think it's an interesting follow-up to the film stills, if not the work in the between years.
Posted at 6:00AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Julia C.