Cindy Sherman
Working Girl
16 September – 31 December 2005
Girls Night Out
16 September – 31 December 2005
Opening: Friday, September 16, 2005, 7-9 pm
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
3750 Washington Blvd.
St. Louis, Missouri 63108 USA
(314) 535.4660
Cindy Sherman, Untitled (Secretary), 1978, Sepia-toned black-and-white photograph, 14 x 11 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures Gallery, New York.
The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is thrilled to present Cindy Sherman: Working Girl for its inaugural Decade Series opening September 16, 2005. In this series, artists who have made significant contributions to the dialogue of contemporary art are invited to work with the Contemporary to develop shows that highlight a moment in each of their careers that has particular resonance.
Cindy Sherman: Working Girl will include rarely seen works from the beginning of her career in the mid-1970s. These works focus on Shermans early exploration of female identity as a young woman and function as the precursor for Shermans first major body of work which has received critical acclaim, the Untitled Film Stills. This exhibition offers a unique glimpse into the early development of Shermans career and how these early photographs informed the work that made her one of the most famous photographers of our time.
One of the most admired and influential artists of her generation, Shermans work has been collected and exhibited by major museums throughout the world since 1980. She has been the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation fellowship grant, known as the “genius” award, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and most recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual Arts by the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Cindy Sherman currently lives and works in New York City. A catalog published by the Contemporary will accompany the exhibition. Cindy Sherman and Catherine Morris, essayist for the catalog will attend the exhibitions St. Louis opening.
In conjunction with the Sherman exhibition, the Contemporary is presenting Girls Night Out, also opening Friday, September 16. The acclaimed traveling exhibition, organized by the Orange County Museum of Art, features groundbreaking photography and video by two generations of female artists who embrace an evocative and poetic approach to female identity. Their work over the last decade shares themes such as youth culture, new notions of beauty, and a lyrical expression of the inner desires, dreams, and aspirations of their subjects. The historical context of this exhibition is found in the photography, film, and performance art of the 1970s and 1980s. Girls Night Out curator Elizabeth Armstrong and exhibiting artists Dorit Cypis, Katy Grannan, and Kelly Nipper, will attend the exhibitions St. Louis opening.
In 2003, the Contemporary moved to its spectacular new space a 27,200 square foot museum designed by architect Brad Cloepfil. As a non-collecting institution, the Museum focuses its efforts on showing a changing series of exhibitions each year, featuring local, national and international, well-known and “newly established” artists working in all types of media. The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is committed to educating the public about the visual arts and artists of our time, supporting emerging artists, and producing nationally recognized outreach programs.
Opening Reception for Cindy Sherman: Working Girl and Girls Night Out
September 16, 2005, 7:00 pm 9:00 pm
Catalog
Cindy Sherman: Working Girl
Softbound, 7 x 9 in. 56 pages
23 illustrations, black-and-white
Published by Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Curated by Paul Ha and Cindy Sherman with foreword by Paul Ha and an essay by Catherine Morris ISBN 0-9712195-8-3.
Available through D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers and Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.
Girls Night Out
Softbound, 9 3/4 x 11 in. 132 pages
50 color photographs, black-and-white
Published by Orange County Museum of Art
Curated by Elizabeth Armstrong and Irene Hofmann; essays by Taru Elfving, Bill Horrigan, and Elizabeth Armstrong.
ISBN: 0-917493-36-2
Available through Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA.
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
3750 Washington Boulevard
St. Louis, Missouri 63108 United States
T: 314-535-4660
info@contemporarystl.org www.contemporarystl.org