Masking

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Florida
1983
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled
1978
gelatin silver print
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
The Umbrellas, Japan
1991
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #95
1981
C-print
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Valley Curtain, Grand Hogback, Rifle, Colorado
1972
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #304
1994
C-print
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College,
Poughkeepsie, New York

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Wrapped Walkways, Loose Park, Kansas City
1978
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #408
2002
C-print
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California
1976
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California
1976
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #410
2003
C-print
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Wrapped Trees
Foundation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland
1998
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Wrapped Trees
Foundation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland
1998
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Stephen Shore
Intermediate Landing, Eastern Approach, State Capitol, Albany, New York
1984
C-print
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Christo (Christo Javacheff)
Wrapped Coast, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia
1969
inkjet print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Sarah Crowner
Opening Violet and Green
2018
acrylic on canvas
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Douglas Coupland
Sworn to Fun, Loyal to None
2011
acrylic on canvas
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York

The song began from Jove;

Who left his blissful seats above,

(Such is the power of mighty Love). 

A dragon's fiery form belied the god:

Sublime on radiant spires he rose,

            When he to fair Olympia pressed,

            And while he sought her snowy breast:

Then, round her slender waist he curled,

And stamped an image of himself, a sovereign of the world.

The listening crowd admire the lofty sound,

'A present Deity,' they shout around:

'A present Deity,' the vaulted roofs rebound.

            With ravished ears

            The Monarch hears,

            Assumes the god,

            Affects to nod,

        And seems to shake the spheres. 

– John Dryden, from Alexander's Feast (1697)

Cindy Sherman - II

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #109
1982
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

 

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #110
1982
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #112
1982
C-print
Guggenheim Museum, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #123
1983
C-print
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #136
1984
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #146
1985
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #167
1986
C-print
Guggenheim Museum, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #175
1987
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #264
1992
C-print
Guggenheim Museum, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled
1992
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #311 
1994
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #347
1999
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled
2000
C-print
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Cindy Sherman
Untitled
2004
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #466
2008
C-print
Roberts Institute of Art, London

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #470
2008
C-print
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Cindy Sherman
Untitled
2008
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

from A Myth of Innocence

One summer she goes into the field as usual

stopping for a bit at the pond where she often

looks at herself, to see

if she detects any changes. She sees

the same person, the horrible mantle

of daughterliness still clinging to her.

The sun seems, in the water, very close.

That's my uncle, spying again, she thinks –

everything in nature is in some way her relative.

I am never alone, she thinks, 

turning the thought into a prayer. 

Then death appears, like the answer to a prayer.

No one understands anymore

how beautiful he was. But Persephone remembers.

Also that he embraced her, right there,

with her uncle watching. She remembers

sunlight flashing on his bare arms.

This is the last moment she remembers clearly.

Then the dark god bore her away.

– Louise Glück (2006)

Cindy Sherman - I

Cindy Sherman
Untitled (Portrait)
1975
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

 

Cindy Sherman
Untitled (Farmer's Daughter)
1975
gelatin silver print
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York

Cindy Sherman
(Secretary)
1978
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Scale Relationship Series: The Giant
1978
cut-out gelatin silver prints mounted on board
Guggenheim Museum, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #9
1978
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #14
1978
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #15
1978
gelatin silver print
Guggenheim Museum, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #22
1978
gelatin silver print
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #23
1978
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #27
1979
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #29
1979
gelatin silver print
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #33
1979
gelatin silver print
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still #45
1979
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #66
1980
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #70
1980
C-print
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York

Cindy Sherman
Untitled #76
1980
C-print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

from Persephone the Wanderer

In the first version, Persephone

is taken from her mother

and the goddess of the earth

punishes the earth – this is

consistent with what we know of human behavior,

that human beings take profound satisfaction

is doing harm, particularly

unconscious harm:

we may call this

negative creation.

Persephone's initial 

sojourn in hell continues to be

pawed over by scholars who dispute

the sensations of the virgin:

did she cooperate in her rape,

or was she drugged, violated against her will,

as happens so often now to modern girls.

As is well known, the return of the beloved

does not correct 

the loss of the beloved: Persephone

returns home 

stained with red juice like

a character in Hawthorne –

I am not certain I will

keep this word: is earth

"home" to Persephone? Is she at home, conceivably,

in the bed of the god? Is she

a born wanderer, in other words

an existential

replica of her own mother, less

hamstrung by ideas of causality?

You are allowed to like

no one, you know. The characters 

are not people.

They are aspects of a dilemma or conflict.

Three parts: just as the soul is divided,

ego, superego, id. Likewise

the three levels of the known world,

a kind of diagram that separates

heaven from earth from hell.

You must ask yourself:

where is it snowing?

White of forgetfulness,

of desecration –

It is snowing on earth; the cold wind says

Persephone is having sex in hell.

Unlike the rest of us, she doesn't know

what winter is, only that

she is what causes it. 

– Louise Glück (2006)