Catherine Opie
From Bibliz Notables
Catherine Opie, born in 1961, lives and works in Los Angeles and New York City. Opie's Self-Portrait (2004) is a straightforward depiction of the artist nursing her young son, Oliver. However, the image is jarring in its juxtaposition and disclosure. On the one hand, the pose and subject matter initially conjure numerous references to the history of art, from pieta and Madonna and Child imagery to the nineteenth-century artist Berthe Morisot's well-known Impressionist painting Wet Nurse and Julie (1879). On the other hand, it shows a tattooed, burly woman cradling a baby as the two gaze into each others' eyes. Opie's portrait represents her continuing investigation into growing subcultures in contemporary American society.
Throughout her career, Opie has addressed the idea of community, creating series that range from portraits of surfers and children, for example, to landscapes of rural signage and more recently, the facades of Beverly Hills homes. She has also created portraits of the gay and lesbian community and transgendered individuals as part of her ongoing investigation into the fluidity of sexuality and gender, which for the artist touches on personal and public issues. In Self-Portrait, Opie adds a layer to the complexity of identity by representing the altered family. In the image, a scar reading "pervert" is still slightly legible on the artist's chest, the result of her cutting the word into her skin for an earlier self-portrait in which she acknowledged American societal prejudice against lesbianism. The combination of blunt honesty and tenderness depicted in the photograph can be seen in various ways in all of Opie's images.
