Provenance

Metro Pictures, New York
Exhibited
New York, Metro Pictures, Cindy Sherman, May 8 – June 27, 2004 (another print exhibited); Shanghai, Shanghai Biennale 2004, September 28 – November 28, 2004 (illustrated); Hannover, Kestnergesellschaft, Cindy Sherman, September 23 – November 7, 2004 (another print exhibited)
Literature
M. Schluter, Cindy Sherman – Clowns, Munich 2004 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
The clown: defined as a: a fool, jester, or comedian in an entertainment (as a play); specifically: a grotesquely dressed comedy performer in a circus b: a person who habitually jokes and plays the buffoon (Merriam-Webster).

Cindy Sherman’s clowns scream of excess. More make-up, more colors, more costumes, more emotion. The result is bright, bold and accosting –the very essence of a clown. By dressing up and becoming one of them, Sherman aims to discover and reveal the pathos hidden behind their artificial exteriors. She becomes an actress on her own stage set, an investigative entertainer, always interested in exploring questions of identity and cliched roles. Masters of disguise, both Sherman and her clowns seek to show us that what you see is not always what you get.

Beneath this heavy facade of opaque makeup and mismatched clothing are people who may, or may not, have anything in common with the clowns they portray. Sadness may masquerade as laughter, malice as benevolence. It is this sometimes frightening tension that interests Sherman. This tension is heightened in the present series by the swirling psychedelic background from which her festooned performers emerge. This is Sherman’s first foray into digitally altering the backgrounds of her work –with the goal that these photographs should look like clown posters, advertisements even. Her clowns sit posed and facing the viewer, ready for hire, to make them laugh or cry.

In the present work, the only diptych in the series, she gives us two clowns. Though there is clearly latent tension between them, both the man and the woman look downhearted, as if they have both been tricked or realized that they were the subject (and object) of a joke. These are not the evil clowns of nightmares and horror films but the clowns that might entertain children at a birthday party. In a nod to Jeff Koons, our male clown holds a miniature pink balloon dog while his female counterpart is adorned with a Carmen Miranda-esque balloon hat. In referring to his balloon dog (fig 1), Koons once said: “it’s a very optimistic piece; it’s like a balloon that a clown would maybe twist for you at a birthday party. But at the same time it’s a Trojan horse. There are other things here that are inside: maybe the sexuality of the piece.” (David Sylvester, Interviews with American Artists, New Haven,Connecticut, Yale University Press, 2001, p. 339).

Koons’s statement is true not only for the balloon dogs but for clowns as well. There is an inherent sense of perversion in these seemingly innocent childhood toys and entertainers that is both profoundly disturbing and equally relevant. Sherman is not afraid to explore and cross conventional boundaries and so she gives us her rainbow assortment of clowns, each exhibiting a range of emotions, which alternately makes us laugh, cry and cringe.
Artist Biography
Cindy Sherman
American • 1954
Seminal to the Pictures Generation as well as contemporary photography and performance art, Cindy Sherman is a powerhouse art practitioner. Wily and beguiling, Sherman's signature mode of art making involves transforming herself into a litany of characters, historical and fictional, that cross the lines of gender and culture. She startled contemporary art when, in 1977, she published a series of untitled film stills.
Through mise-en-scène and movie-like make-up and costume, Sherman treats each photograph as a portrait, though never one of herself. She embodies her characters even if only for the image itself. Presenting subversion through mimicry, against tableaus of mass media and image-based messages of pop culture, Sherman takes on both art history and the art world.
Though a shape-shifter, Sherman has become an art world celebrity in her own right. The subject of solo retrospectives across the world, including a blockbuster showing at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and a frequent exhibitor at the Venice Biennale among other biennials, Sherman holds an inextricable place in contemporary art history.
View More Works

19

Cindy Sherman

Untitled #420

Executed in 2004
Diptych: two Color photographs.
71 3/4 x 45 1/2 in. (182.2 x 115.6 cm) (unframed); 73 1/2 x 47 3/8 in. (186.7 x 120.3 cm) (framed).

Signed, numbered and dated ‘Cindy Sherman 6/6 2004’ (on the reverse). This work is from an edition of 6.

Estimate
$500,000 - 700,000

Sold for $1,426,500

Carte Blanche

8 November 2010 6pm
New York

1
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
Untitled (March 5th)
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $506,500
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2
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $722,500
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3
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled (after Sam)
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $902,500
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4
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
“Untitled” (Portrait of Marcel Brient)
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,562,500
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5
Urs Fischer
The Heart of the Ocean, May Yohe & Putnam Strong, Zero Year Curse, Tavernier Blue, Hope Diamond
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $218,500
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6
Maurizio Cattelan
Charlie
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,994,500
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7
Raymond Pettibon
No Title (Don’t make a)
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $314,500
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8
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Self-Portrait
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $4,562,500
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9
Louise Lawler
Woman with Picasso
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $146,500
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10
Takashi Murakami
Miss ko²
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $6,802,500
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11
Jeff Koons
Prison (Venus)
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
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12
Maurizio Cattelan
Stephanie
Estimate $1,800,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $2,434,500
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13
David Hammons
Hair Relaxer
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $902,500
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14
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #153
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $2,770,500
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15
Andy Warhol
Men in Her Life
Estimate $40,000,000 - 50,000,000
Sold for $63,362,500
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16
Takashi Murakami
And then, and then and then and then and then
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for $2,322,500
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17
Thomas Schütte
Old Friends
Estimate $350,000 - 450,000
Sold for $962,500
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18
Paul McCarthy
Mechanical Pig
Estimate $2,500,000 - 3,500,000
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19
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #420
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $1,426,500
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20
Christopher Wool
Untitled (W 24)
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $3,666,500
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21
Charles Ray
Ink Drawing
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $962,500
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22
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
"Untitled" (Welcome)
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $1,142,500
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23
Robert Ryman
NO TITLE REQUIRED
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $3,442,500
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24
Yves Klein
SE 161
Estimate $700,000 - 900,000
Sold for $1,314,500
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25
Daniel Buren
Peinture émail sur toile de coton
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $542,500
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26
Lee Lozano
No title
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $602,500
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27
Robert Morris
Untitled
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Sold for $1,258,500
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28
Steven Parrino
Schism’s Kiss
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
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29
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $2,658,500
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30
Cady Noland
Trashed Mailbox
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $422,500
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31
Subodh Gupta
Still Steal Steel #4
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32
Thomas Schütte
Grosse Geist No.16
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $4,114,500
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33
Matthew Day Jackson
The Lower 48
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $410,500
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Carte Blanche

8 November 2010 6pm New York

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Provenance

Exhibited

Literature

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Cindy Sherman

19

Cindy Sherman

Untitled #420

Carte Blanche

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8 November 2010 6pm
New York