"I like making images that from a distance seem kind of seductive, colorful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you're looking at is something totally opposite. It seems boring to me to pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It's more challenging to look at the other side."
— Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is best known for her staged self-portraits, products of her meticulous costume changes, cosmetic alterations to her hair and features, and the occasional use of prosthetics. Sherman insists that her work is not self-reflexive. Rather, she contends that her body serves as a blank slate for a series of caricatures. Often, the artist derives her imagery from conventional expressions of femininity and recognizable character types. The Addison’s portrait, Untitled (Cosmo Girl) comes from the series Untitled 2000, which captures myriad striking characters posing for the camera. These variants of the same woman—the artist—are at once playful and serious, stunning and grotesque, flamboyant and fragile. Collectively, they touch upon gender roles and societal expectations of women and their bodies. Alone, Untitled (Cosmo Girl) confronts viewers with the facade of feminine beauty by subverting societal ideals, transforming them into visual clichés.