Photography as Truth

Discuss how the idea of a photograph capturing the “truth” of a situation collides with fiction in Sherman's fictional portraits. Where is “truth” in her work? How does she combine the themes of identity and truth to create meaning? Sherman maintains that she doesn’t want people to have a preconceived notion of who the characters are, yet we are all aware that they are self-portraits. How does this influence how we interpret them?

Imagine that you have the opportunity to have your portrait made by one of the artists we’ve studied this term. Which artist would you choose? Why? Describe how your portrait would look. Use at least 6 of the art terms below accurately in your response (underline each term).

Photography is typically seen at “the truth” but after seeing Sherman’s way of photography, we can deuce this may not also be true in the traditional sense. Fiction and truth collide in her portraits but can really teach us a lot about the art of photography. Her work does contain “truth” in some respect. They are organic. Sherman doesn’t “pose” as traditional models would. She shoots until she finds what she can’t articulate that she is looking for. The truth comes from the honesty behind the portraits. She is playing with her identity and becomes those characters for that self-portrait. She combines these ideas to create meaning. The meaning to me is to look deeper and to ask questions. If you glance at these photos without thinking much of them, you may think they are just pictures of people during their daily lives. You have to ask why she choose this identity and understand that these are characters is a show that is her photography art. I think if we have a preconceived notion of who the characters are, we are missing this point. We can’t see them as characters, but as identities. If you see the pictures as Sherman dressing up, you don’t see them for who they are. You have to picture the characters as individuals in the real world, but also understand that they are self-portraits by Sherman. You have to see the balance to see the point of the photos. Something I think that is difficult is that people can interpret them based on prior experiences with people perhaps similar to the characters pictured. I think this photos are magnificent form of art that requires a certain art literacy to truly appreciate.

            If I had the opportunity to have my portrait made by one of the artists we studied, I would have a very hard time deciding, but I think I would pick, Lari Pittman. Although he doesn’t seem to do portraits, his style of art really appeals to me. My favorite type of art is usually oil on canvas and he uses this. I would want my portrait to involve a brighter color scheme, something Pittman frequently encompasses. I would want the temperature to be warm colors.  I would definitely want Chiaroscuro in my portrait, as I feel it gives more depth to a painting and it would bring out the traditional aspect used in paintings for generation. Color is very important to me in a painting. I would want perceptual color used to make my portrait look more realistic. Because I like impressionist paintings best, I would want the visual texture that these paintings often use. I think Pittman is able to create visual texture in his pieces, therefore, I think he would be able to make a portrait with this more me. I would want the scale of the painting to be medium sized, not too large but not too small. I would want it to have a linear perspective, but still proportional to the actual proportions of me. I would be honored to have a portrait done by any of the artists we studied, but I think Lari Pittman would be the one I would choose.