Cindy Sherman： Untitled #224

This image is not what it appears to be. At first glance, this might look like a very old painting. In fact, it is a photograph by the contemporary artist Cindy Sherman, created in 1990. This work is from Sherman's History Portrait series. In this photograph, Sherman appropriates an image by the 17th century Italian painter Caravaggio's painting is known as the Sic Bacchus. Let's take a few minutes to consider why and how Sherman chose to creatively reinterpret Caravaggio's painting. A careful comparison of these works uncovers several of the parallels that Sherman strategically developed between the 17th century painting and her own 20th photograph. The first commonality between these images is that they are both visual records of performances. Caravaggio has depicted himself as Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, and Sherman has depicted herself as Caravaggio in the role of Bacchus. Neither of these works are traditional self-portraits, because both artists are impersonating the appearance of a different character. Furthermore, both Caravaggio and Sherman employ the strategy of creative role-play in order to critique the ways in which our sense of identity is shaped by certain cultural narratives. Classical myths were the narratives that united 17th century Italian culture. In that sense, myths were to the 17th century, what movies and other media are to our contemporary culture. Therefore, Caravaggio's performance as Bacchus offered an art-historical precedent for Sherman's project. The art for which Sherman is best known are her untitled film stills, in which she staged imaginary movies. Like Caravaggio, Sherman has investigated the ways in which our culture's create archetypes of identity. One of the conceptual dimensions of Sherman's artistic project of critiquing the relationship between appearance and identity is an examination of the values we assign to how something or someone looks. Likewise, Caravaggio's painting exposes the deception of appearances. Holding a bunch of grapes, Bacchus attempts, and perhaps fails, to tempt us. Perhaps Caravaggio's painting is meant to be a commentary on the fleetingness and fallacy of appearances. What might look attractive one moment could spoil in the next. A final point of connection between these works of art is that they both critique the associations we have between images and truth. Caravaggio was notorious for the dramatic realism of his art. Notice, for example, his dirty fingernails. As a photograph, Sherman's image is at the same time both more realistic and more evidently artificial than Caravaggio's painting. The camera's mechanical eye captures details of appearance that exceed the realism of painting. And yet, at the same time, the realism of the photographic image exposes how the grapes that Sherman holds are plastic props. Part of the power of the photographic image is that we want to believe what we see. Even when a photograph is clearly staged, it still challenges us to accept it as true. In conclusion, what all these points of connection between Caravaggio's painting and Sherman's photograph have in common is that they critique our trust of images. Sherman appropriated Caravaggio's painting in order to critically explore how the 17th century artist visualized his own investigation of the relationship between appearance and identity. Sherman's photograph further develops and deliberately reinterprets the dynamics between appearance and identity that were already present in Caravaggio's painting.