Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life

Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life

“Some of her images have become just about as iconic as the Hollywood ones she once riffed on, forming a new view of femininity in a postmodern age.”
—New York Times

Collecting over 100 works from four decades, this comprehensive, career-spanning  survey of acclaimed artist Cindy Sherman makes its only stop outside of LA at the Wex. You’ll see everything from her influential Untitled Film Stills (1977–80)—in which Sherman employs makeup, costumes, lighting, and scenery to present herself as generic art-house and B-movie stars—through her most recent 2016 series, in which she takes on the guise of aging divas from the era of silent film and the golden age of Hollywood. The exhibition is enhanced by a free, celebrity-studded audio guide (featuring the voices of Molly Ringwald and John Waters, among others) and includes Sherman’s feature film Office Killer (1997), starring Ringwald, Carol Kane, and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life reveals the endless variety of personae the artist has conjured throughout her career—all originating from her radically transformed self-image, and ranging from the affluent to the abject, the horrifying to the humorous. Occupying both sides of the camera, Sherman continues to raise crucial questions about the pervasive influence of mass media in constructing identity—and particularly the representation of women—and about the very nature of artistic creation. The exhibition concludes a year in which every artist featured in our galleries is a woman.

#allwomenallyear

This exhibition was organized by The Broad, Los Angeles.

Generous support for the Wexner Center’s presentation of Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life is provided by the Crane Family Foundation, Agnes Gund, and Orange Barrel Media.

Additional support provided by Dana and Brent Adler, Sam and Gigi Fried, DeeDee and Herb Glimcher, Matrix Psychological Services/Visualopathy, Susan Tomasky and Ron Ungvarsky, and Arlene and Michael Weiss.