Press Release

The exhibition will include the groundbreaking ‘Untitled Films Stills’ (1977 – 1980), through which Sherman came to widespread attention as one of the ‘Pictures Generation’, artists whose work responded to the age of mass media and celebrity. This pivotal series will be juxtaposed with Sherman’s large-format portrayals of film stars, starlets, society women and fashionistas, from various series made over subsequent decades, addressing the layered presentation and public perception of femininity.

The exhibition takes its title from the 1936 all-female hit play by Clare Boothe Luce, a merciless ensemble piece about women’s interactions with women, of their own and different classes, and of appearances. As the 20th century cult of fame and celebrity has transitioned into the 21st century context of influencers and social media stars, Sherman’s deconstructions of gender, wealth and privilege remain of acute relevance. This exhibition offers a rare presentation of Sherman’s enduring concern with the interaction between female roles and images, with the diversity of womanhood, and the gaze(s) to which women are relentlessly subjected.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an Education Lab that will take its starting point from the work of both Mika Rottenberg and Cindy Sherman, exploring a shared idea that identity is not static but evolves over time. Our understanding and reading of ourselves and others can be influenced by personal experiences and behaviours, as well as social expectations and influences. The Education Lab will encompass a range of events, performances and activities in collaboration with the Higher School of Dramatic Art of the Balearic Islands (ESADIB) and Trobades & Premis Mediterranis Albert Camus, which will inaugurate its 2025 edition on 9 May at Hauser & Wirth Menorca. The extended events and learning program will feature wider community partners throughout the season, with further details to be announced.

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About the Artist

Born in 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Cindy Sherman lives and works in New York NY. Her ground-breaking photographs have interrogated themes around representation and identity in contemporary media for over four decades. Coming to prominence in the late 1970s with the Pictures Generation group alongside artists such as Sherrie Levine, Richard Prince and Louise Lawler, Sherman studied art at Buffalo State College in 1972 where she turned her attention to photography. In 1977, shortly after moving to New York, Sherman began her critically acclaimed ‘Untitled Film Stills’. A suite of 69 black and white portraits, ‘Untitled Film Stills’ sees Sherman impersonate a myriad of stereotypical female characters and caricatures inspired by Hollywood pictures, film noir, and B movies. Using a range of costumes, props and backdrops to manipulate her own appearance and to create photographs resembling promotional film images, the series explores the tension between artifice and identity in consumer culture which has preoccupied the artist’s practice ever since.

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Also Exhibiting at Hauser & Wirth

About the Gallery

Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by Partner and Vice President Marc Payot. A family business with a global outlook, Hauser & Wirth has expanded over the past 26 years to include outposts in Hong Kong, London, New York, Los Angeles, Somerset and Gstaad. The gallery represents over 70 artists and estates who have been instrumental in shaping its identity over the past quarter century, and who are the inspiration for Hauser & Wirth’s diverse range of activities that engage with art, education, conservation and sustainability.

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Address
Isla del Rey (Illa del Rei)
Mahon, Menorca
Balearic Islands
Menorca
Spain
Opening Hours
June 17 – September 10
Monday – Sunday, 11am – 10pm

September 13 – October 29
Wednesday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm
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Menorca Isla del Rey (Illa del Rei), Mahon, Menorca
Hauser & Wirth
Isla del Rey (Illa del Rei), Mahon, Menorca, Balearic Islands, Menorca, Spain
+34 871 010 020
http://www.hauserwirth.com

Opening hours
June 17 – September 10
Monday – Sunday, 11am – 10pm

September 13 – October 29
Wednesday – Sunday, 10am – 4pm
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