{"data":{"id":"4113","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":4113,"topgoose_id":1187,"tms_id":4113,"display_name":"Catherine Opie","sort_name":"Opie Catherine","display_date":"1961–","begin_date":"1961","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eWhether capturing the diversity of\nthe LGBTQ community, the panoramic\ngeometries of Los Angeles freeways,\nor the abstract beauty of ice-fishing houses\nin rural Minnesota, Catherine Opie’s\nphotographs constitute a rich portrait\nof contemporary America. Opie first\ngained attention in the early 1990s for her\nphotographs of transgender women and\nmen, drag queens, “leather dykes,”\nand others who fall outside traditionally\nassigned gender roles. With their formal\ncomposition and vivid, monochromatic\nbackdrops, these images of sexual\nsubcultures use art-historical tropes of\nphotographic and painterly portraiture\nto cast light on communities unexamined\nby mainstream America.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/8990\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eSelf-Portrait/Cutting\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e is one\nof the artist’s first and occasional self-\nrepresentations. Opie faces away\nfrom the camera; in the center of her back\nis a stylized line drawing that shows two\nskirted stick figures in front of a small\nhouse. The sun peeks out from behind a\nfluffy cloud, and two birds fly off in the\ndistance. The crude, childlike drawing has\nnot been rendered in crayon, however,\nbut carved into Opie’s flesh with a scalpel.\nThe wounds are fresh, and drips of\nblood trail down portions of the image.\nOpie explained that the photograph\nwas about her “dream for a lesbian\ndomestic relationship” and, as the scarified\ndrawing suggests, “the contradictions\nwithin that wish.” Made on the heels of a\ndifficult split with a long-term partner,\nthe photograph conveys the artist’s\npersonal desires and alludes to contested\nnotions of family within the LGBTQ\ncommunity. The visceral effect of the\nincised flesh also calls to mind the traumatic\nimpact of the AIDS crisis on that\ncommunity, the force of which was still\nbeing felt in 1993.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500056896","wikidata_id":"Q50049","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:12:03.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-25T01:31:09.395-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/4113/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/4113/exhibitions"}}}}