Art Review: Catherine Opie Retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum

Catherine Opie's shockingly raw portraits from the early '90s are what came to mind when I heard of this retrospective on view until January 7, 2009 at the Guggenheim in New York. However, seeing her oeuvre not only disabused me of any notion of rawness in her work, but also opened my eyes to the extent of her subject matter. Catherine Opie, an American classicist and stereotypical female?

Apparently, yes. This classically American photographer came into the limelight for portraying herself and her friends as gender bending homosexuals into body modification and sadomasochism. Beyond horror or titillation, Opie exposed an underrepresented class of people with political intent and humanity while exploring notions of home and family.

Home and family seem stereotypically female in a way that Opie is not often considered, given her non-traditional presentations of gender. The people we see in her works are homosexual couples posed in traditional ways, of men dressed as women and vice-versa, and of tattoos and piercings that look deliberately painful. Her presentation of them staring at the camera with a direct gaze is aggressive in a simple way. Yet stereotypically female too is the self-portrait of the artist holding her baby, similar to a Madonna and Child scene, except that the luminosity and realism exposes her scarred breast where the word "Pervert" was carved for a previous portrait.

The rawness I anticipated in her work is actually a direct portrayal of who people are with no apologies. She tends to present her subject — be it a person or a bridge — alone. Her portraits share the quality of formal composition with the gaze directed at the viewers, as well as a sense of art historical reference. For example, Opie was influenced by Hans Holbein's use of luminous color and worldly references for a series of portraits of friends. Opie often uses ornately patterned fabrics as a background. The contrived aspect of scenes and formal aspect to portraiture lend her work a theatrical quality that is in every sense neo-Baroque.

Article Author: Art Ravels

A young arts enthusiast in New York City, Art Ravels turns a quizzical eye on the arts and culture scene, with a literary nod or two. For more of Art's writing, see daily aesthetic musings at www.artsravel.blogspot.com.

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