Catherine Opie

Catherine Opie ( b. 1961 in Sandusky, Ohio) is an American artist who was known primarily for photographic portraits of transgender, tattooed and homosexuals. She lives in Los Angeles and New York.

Catherine Opie studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he received the 1985 BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts). At the California Institute of the Arts ( CalArts ) in Valencia in 1988, she received a Master of Fine Arts ( MFA). From 2000 to 2001 she was Professor of Fine Art at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Since 2001 she is a professor of photography at the University of Los Angeles ( UCLA).

Opie's work consists of several self-portraits, for which she has her body partially pierced with needles and scratched, or shows in particular positions or roles. Some portraits show other artists, such as Ron Athey and make it their body manipulations, such as tattoos and piercings, dar. Other photographs show pairs from the LGBT scene. The photographs combine elements of contemporary art with traditional portrait photography and show the complexity of modern identities. Many of the photographs are almost life-size, Opie uses this purpose-built, partially installed in Room size Polaroid cameras.

In her recent works, which were presented in 2004 at the Whitney Biennial, she deals with architecture and urban spaces but also with landscapes in the ice and on the water.

The lesbian artist lives with her partner, the artist Julie Burleigh, and her son Oliver in Los Angeles.

Exhibitions

• 2008 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York: Catherine Opie: American Photographer

Work in picture books

• Helen Molesworth (ed.): Catherine Opie - empty and full. Texts ( English) by Jill Medvedow, Helen Molesworth, Anna Stothart, interview by Helen Molesworth with the artist, design by Margarethe Hausstätter, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2011, ISBN 978-3-7757-3015-0.
• The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation ( ed.): Catherine Opie - American photographer. Texts ( English) by Dorothy Allison, Jennifer Blessing, Nat Trotman, interviews with the artist by Russell Ferguson, published by Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2008, ISBN 978-3-7757-2292-6.