Cindy Sherman

Cynthia "Cindy" Morris Sherman is an American photographer and film director, born January 19, 1954. She became interested in the visual arts at Buffalo State College, where she began painting. Frustrated with what she saw as the medium's limitations, she abandoned the form and took up photography. She spent the remainder of her college education focused on photography. Though Sherman had failed a required photography class as a freshman, she repeated the course with Barbara Jo Revelle, whom she credits with introducing her to conceptual art and other contemporary forms. Together with Robert Longo, Charles Clough and Nancy Dwyer, she created Hallwalls, an arts center. The center was a snapshot of Buffalo in the late 1970s, a city which had gained a reputation as a model laboratory for artists interested in dismantling boundaries between media.

Sherman was exposed to the contemporary art exhibited at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Media Studies Buffalo, the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts, and Artpark, in nearby Lewiston, N.Y. It was in Buffalo that Sherman encountered the photo-based Conceptual works of artists Hannah Wilke, Eleanor Antin, and Adrian Piper. Along with artists like Laurie Simmons, Louise Lawler, and Barbara Kruger, Sherman is considered to be part of the Pictures Generation.