H2 Art ( 9750/01 )

9 July Thursday
1300 1600
04 - 08

SEQ
Andrea Gursky
Cindy Sherman

Singapore Stock Exchange by Andreas Gursky, 19

Chromogenic print
170 x 270 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Singapore Stock Exchange by Andreas Gursky, 19

Chromogenic print
170 x 270 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Untitled Film Still #3 by Cindy Sherman, 1977

Gelatin silver print
20.3 x 25.4 cm

Untitled #224 by Cindy Sherman, 1990

Colour photograph

Section B: Structured Comparison

Questions
(a)Compare the use of human figures
in both works.
(b)Discuss the ideas behind the works
of these artists.
(c)Evaluate the techniques in both
works.

Section B: Structured Comparison

Questions
a) Discuss the ideas behind the works
of these artists.
What were the artists trying to
show?
How does it link to the history of
Art?
What are their possible meanings?

Section B: Structured Comparison

Questions
b) Compare the use of human figures
in both works.
How are human figures portrayed?
How were they portrayed?
Why were they portrayed this way?

Section B: Structured Comparison

Questions
c) Evaluate the techniques in both
works.
What was used to make their art?
How important are their
techniques?
Why do you think the artist has
chosen this
technique?

How are human figures portrayed in

their works?
Gursky reduces the human mass to
anonymous form of small scale, where
the human mass becomes peripheral
and the emphasis is on the location
instead.
Sherman portrays herself in various
guises where she assumes different
roles and characters in her
photographs: mulitple identities, social
status of women, role of media

How were they portrayed?

The large-scale and detailed spaces Gursky
creates in his works are carefully constructed
photographs about contemporary life and
not simply taken photographs.
Shermans Film Stills are recreations of
moments from films through the use of still
photographs. She uses makeup, wigs,
costumes and props to alter her appearance
and manipulate her surrounding to create
tableus and characters that prompts
response from her viewers.

Why were they portrayed this way?

Both artist employ naturalistic
representation enabled by the
camera to question, alter and
evaluate the viewers sense of reality
by exploiting the potential of the
image through technical processes
and image production.

What were the artists trying to

show?
Gursky looks at the human
condition in the globalised world
and presents issues of consumerism,
commerce and tourism.
Sherman, looks at the impact of
popular culture on the works,
particularly commenting on the
status of woman, influence of
media and the role of art.

How does it link to the history of

Art? - Gursky
Gurskys works have been described as
monumental and epic, and likened to
history painting.
While the scenes depicted may outcome as
mundane images of merchandise in
supermarket, tiny figures in commercial,
industrial or recreational spaces the
pictures are also resonant of human
experiences in the larger narrative of global
consumerist and industrial culture, similar
to paintings of the Romantic period.

How does it link to the history of

Art? - Sherman
Sherman appropriates images from
history paintings in her History
Portraits (1989 1990) and roleplayed these fictitious characters
mise-en-scene, investigating the
representation of the female in art
history.

Meaning- Gursky
Gurskys works magnify details of human
activity and existence to the scale of
monumentality, and provoke reflection and
discussion about the human experience
and condition in a globalised world.
The fact that his images were
fabrication/collages not found in actual
life, and yet do pointed in its depiction of
human experiences, raises issues of the
limits, as well as pushes the boundaries of
naturalistic representation.

Meaning- Sherman
Through Shermans work, she
highlights the structural construction
of womens identity through imagery
and the media.
Her work highlights issues and gaps
between naturalistic photographic
images and reality, as well as the
power relationships and issues in
imaging.

What is used to make their art?

Gursky offers a heightened view by taking
and using images of the world taken from
a high vantage point and composing
them digitally into quasi panoramasevoke sense of scale and alienation.
Sherman uses the camera and related
cinematic tools to reproduce images that
resemble films, advertisements and
images from popular culture. She stages
her scene to make art.

How important are their

techniques?
Appropriation and Artifice
Repetition
Deconstruction and Reconstruction

Appropriation and Artifice

Shermans technique of
appropriation is important in our
image-saturated society. She
questions what one perceives as
real by self consciously restaging
the scenes- incite questioning, shock
or even horror towards the
representation of women in popular
culture.

Repetition
Gurskys composition are often composed by
multiple smaller scenes. The repetition sometimes
function as visual patterns an are sometimes also
symptomatic of the mass producing
consumerist/industrial culture, or evocative of the
ever diminishing individual in the relentlessness of
globalisation.
Sherman repeatedly imaged herself as different
archetypes of women using masquerade,
camouflage, disguise and juxtaposition
repeatedly highlights the media construction
of female stereotypes.

Deconstruction and Reconstruction

Both artists deconstruct and reconstruct
what they see from the cameras lens. In
Gurskys artificial landscape, he digitally
combines photographs together into
enormous collages, fabricating and
questioning reality in terms of experiences
evoked.
Shermans subversive portrayal of female
stereotypes is both reconstruction of
identity and a deconstruction of the
gendered self.

Why do you think the artist has

chosen this technique?
Gurskys composition are harmonious and show a
strong adherence to formalistic principals such as
balance, repetition and geometry. The photographs
produced by Gursky are meticulously detailed and
monumental in scale. He produce coherent
images by combining and altering his photographs
digitally.
Shermans photographs are fictional with strong
performative element, with distinctly odd camera
angles, narrow depth of fields with tightly cropped
composition. Her photographs do not hide that it is
artificially setup with visible camera cables and
obvious use of props and costumes.