One reason I was interested in photography was to get away from the preciousness of the art object.
Cindy ShermanI didn't want to make 'high' art, I had no interest in using paint, I wanted to find something that anyone could relate to without knowing about contemporary art. I wasn't thinking in terms of precious prints or archival quality; I didn't want the work to seem like a commodity.
Cindy ShermanSo many things suddenly made sense for the clowns, for the whole idea. Iโd been going through a struggle, particularly after 9/11; I couldnโt figure out what I wanted to say. I still wanted the work to be the same kind of mixture โ intense, with a nasty side or an ugly side, but also with a real pathos about the characters โ and clowns have an underlying sense of sadness while theyโre trying to cheer people up. Clowns are sad, but theyโre also psychotically, hysterically happy.
Cindy ShermanI wanted to create something that people could relate to without having read a book about it beforehand.
Cindy Sherman