Few artists have defined the era of postmodernity more than Cindy Sherman (b. 1954, Glen Ridge, USA), and she is renowned for her photographic series, produced over 40+ years, in which she transforms herself as characters to examine and critique representation through visual art and popular culture.

In 2017 a new series emerged online. Sherman started posting ‘selfies’. These startling images, commenting on the phenomenon of face-altering apps, have now been given a new grandeur and permanent status using the fine and revered craft of tapestry. In Tapestries Sherman brings 21st-century ‘face-technology’ together with the traditional craft of tapestry making translating the pixel into stitch.

“I am delighted that ARoS can start the year by presenting such an outstanding artist who has had an extraordinary and defining role within postmodern practice and beyond. Cindy Sherman is internationally known for works that examine identity and play with the genres of portraiture and representation.  Her works comment upon the ever-changing path to the construction of self – something that is hugely relevant in our era of personality consumption, on digital platforms in particular,” says Rebecca Matthews, Museum Director at ARoS.

From portraits to tapestry

Sherman’s online portraits were originally produced as a series for her Instagram account. The portraits were created using a various of face-altering platforms that de- and reconstructed the artist herself.
 
Too small in format to be reproduced and upscaled in photography, Sherman uses tapestry to elevate these shape-shifted selves. Tapestry is a medium well-known for is importance and permanence of the official portraits historically made for nobility and the wealthy. Sherman revels in the absurdity and the perversity of transforming that which is considered ephemeral and fleeting into such historical legacy and perpetuity.

The works exhibited in Tapestries are Cindy Sherman’s first major exploration of a medium beyond photography. The tapestries are created by master makers in Belgium where tapestry making has been a highly valued practice since the 15th century.

“It's thrilling to see an artist such as Cindy Sherman continue to break new ground.  People might think the use of tapestry is quaint and outmoded, but Sherman mines her material for maximum effect, exploring not only identity but also playing with the visual field of abstraction and realism. With tapestry, she has found a material that warps and weaves in partnership with the pixel, and it is exciting to be able to work with and think about these unexpected works. They reveal more and more with looking and thinking,” says curator of the Tapestries exhibition at ARoS, Juliana Engberg.

An exploration of the portrait as a genre

Cindy Sherman is internationally renowned for her works that scrutinize identity; the role of the female under the patriarchal gaze of cinema; the role of the female muse for artists through the ages; the celebrity construction at the heart of portraiture; and the typology of faces and figures. She has made works that exemplify the shifting, morphing sense of the self in our era of personality consumption and hyper-visuality and gender fluidity.

More information on the exhibition can be found at www.aros.dk/sherman

Cindy Sherman - Tapestries opens on the 4th of February 2023 in the ARoS Focus-galley on Level 5. The exhibition can be experienced until the 5th of June 2023.

Press photos can be freely downloaded from Dropbox when giving due credit.

For additional information, please contact:

Astrid Ildor · asil@aros.dk · (+45) 61 90 49 42