Lot Essay
This pair of photographs by and of Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince explores the social construction of gender identity, an important theme for both artists. Sherman regularly explores stereotypical images of feminity, choosing her subjects from popular culture, recreating them in self-masquerades, and photographing self-portraits that are simultaneously other women and every woman. Prince, on the other hand, generally appropriates found images as surrogate self-portraits and uses them to examine masculine identity. In present work, Sherman and Prince mimic each other in disguise, thus reflecting untruths and creating the repeated illusions of a hall of mirrors. "It has been suggested that Prince's whole oeuvre can be read as a struggle to uncover his socially determined definition as a man--and to comprehend the anxiety this definition engenders. In a number of works, Prince has rejected conformist ideas about masculinity, using other images and scenarios, such as transvestism, androgyny, and homoeroticism. In an early collaborative piece with Cindy Sherman, the two artists donned similar red wigs and presented themselves as each other" (L. Phillips, Richard Prince, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1992, p.35).
The medium of photography, traditionally a direct method of recording facts, is manipulated by both Sherman and Prince to subvert the false representations they have constructed. The androgynous costumes that conceal their true personalities are the same as the socially acceptable signs of gender that are acted out in everyday life. Like Sherman, "Prince projects his fugitive subject . . . as an actor-director-producer trying out various parts. In response to a question about where his voice is coming from, Prince responds, 'I think this particular voice, the one I like to think of as my own, does in fact entertain the notion that it sometimes finds itself in a movie, and I think to some extent this voice carries on a relationship with the scene in front of him as if what he's looking at can be either produced, directed, acted in or even written about'" (L. Phillips, Richard Prince, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1992, p.35).
The medium of photography, traditionally a direct method of recording facts, is manipulated by both Sherman and Prince to subvert the false representations they have constructed. The androgynous costumes that conceal their true personalities are the same as the socially acceptable signs of gender that are acted out in everyday life. Like Sherman, "Prince projects his fugitive subject . . . as an actor-director-producer trying out various parts. In response to a question about where his voice is coming from, Prince responds, 'I think this particular voice, the one I like to think of as my own, does in fact entertain the notion that it sometimes finds itself in a movie, and I think to some extent this voice carries on a relationship with the scene in front of him as if what he's looking at can be either produced, directed, acted in or even written about'" (L. Phillips, Richard Prince, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1992, p.35).