Untitled #98 1982

Cindy Sherman made this photograph, Untitled #98, using herself as model, makeup artist, and photographer. Rather than using traditional ‘fine art’ materials like oil paint or bronze, Sherman embraces mass production, and the culture of image-making. The photograph presents a portrait, or rather, a parody of one. We see a young woman, wrapped in what appears to be a corduroy robe, perhaps fresh from the bath. But the image feels posed, even staged; the lighting harsh, the setting artificial. This points to the processes of production behind the picture – the many hours of work and labor it took to produce a photograph that looks candid. By highlighting the materiality of photography – the film, the printing, the lighting, and so on – Sherman blurs the lines between art, craft, and industrial production. By emphasizing these elements, she exposes the artificiality of ‘natural’ or ‘spontaneous’ images. It is as though she were arguing that the craft of photography has always been present, but not necessarily recognized. And it is precisely this making that gives the artwork its cultural significance.