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Catherine Opie

December 19th, 2008

Went to see Catherine Opie’s exhibition at the Guggenheim a few weeks ago. At first I wanted to see it because I read somewhere that her work is a lot like Nan Goldin. But I was amazed by this mid career survey that Catherine has many lines of work which are equally amazing.

Catherine starts her career with portrait. Unlike Golden, all her portrait are elaborately staged to create a very “in your face” effect. She almost exclusively uses large format cameras, adding a lot of details into her image, making them much much more powerful. She has a transition series in the style of Tina Barney. Her next set of work is on American cites and highway system, which Guggenheim managed to get a collection of 5 or 6 series. I can not imagine someone can make such a big transition in artistic style.

Amazing technique, amazing subjects. Can’t wait to see what comes next.

Entry Filed under: photography