Cindy Sherman

When it comes to remembering circumstances in which I get familiar with things, I'm the worst. Usually I just can't recall how I got to know something. Cindy Sherman is this kind of case here, too. I feel like I've always known her works, but surely when I shot the picture of her picture at MoMA (the first one above, Untitled #92, 1981, chromogenic color print), I didn't know who the author was. Then, when her persona(s) became inspiring to me, I knew I'd seen her works somewhere already. Now I can recognize them instantly, and it happened for example at Tate Modern three months ago (the second picture above).

Self-portraiture is sincerely a dear subject to me. I think it may allow to step a little beyond the art of photography with its realms of posing, modeling, acting, self-expression. I love taking self-portraits, and they're my favourite subject when I look at someone else's works. In my case, I've become more aware of my body and looks, and I've begun taking more care of it. You really learn about yourself in an accelerated way. Some say that it's narcissism, and let them say that. It actually couldn't be more flattering to the artist since self-awareness is an advantage. Being comfortable with oneself is crucial, and self-portraits could be good means, or therapy.

What I also adore about self-portraiture is the completeness which is given to the photographer. From the very beginning, when a germ of an idea is born, through styling an outfit, handling makeup, finding a location, working with light and modeling, till the very end when the photograph is finished.

It's not possible to call Cindy Sherman with one name defining the kind of art she deals with. Her official web home says: photographer, model, director, actor... Although choosing an art education to become a painter, she graduated from art school in 1976 as a conceptual photographer. Shortly Cindy found a loft on Fulton Street in lower Manhattan and began taking photographs of herself. In 1977 she became an actress playing in front of own camera. As her short online biography says, her works are not completely self-portraits since they don't depict an actual person but fictional characters. Whatever the concept, I find her works artistically inspiring.

My very favourite photographic pieces of hers are included in the Untitled Film Stills series. My reasons are simple - those wonderful photographs saturated with culture portray in black-and-white someone distinctly inspired by the 1950s and 1960s Hollywood, noir cinema and European films.

At present time of the geniuses such as Tina Fey or Lena Dunham, being the writer-director-actress filmmakers, I'm really fond of the idea of trying one's best as a stylist-model-photographer creator.

Joy Luck Club by Massive Attack