Anne Collier
1970–
Anne Collier produces sparse still lifes of found objects using a technique of re-photography that is informed as much by West Coast conceptual art practices as by product photography and advertising. She received a BFA in 1993 from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, and an MFA in 2001 from the University of California, Los Angeles, studying with Michael Asher, John Baldessari, James Welling, and Christopher Williams. Unlike artists of the earlier Pictures Generation, who appropriated images from contemporary mass media, Collier sources her worn objects from flea markets and eBay and shoots them against an austere white or black background. The resulting photographs return our gaze to artifacts of vision, desire, and power.
Collier frequently focuses on the objectified female subject within pop culture. Here, she has photographed an image of Madonna, in poster format, taken by the fashion photographer Steven Meisel, who later collaborated with the pop star for her controversial 1992 book Sex. In this Meisel image, the singer, typically known for her bold reclamation of female sexuality, averts her eyes from the camera and covers her bare breast. Collier complicates the web of power dynamics by re-photographing an image taken by a male photographer and by displaying the wear and tear of the poster, presumably at the hands of a consumer. In an age when most images seem to move in digital form rather than on paper, Collier turns our attention to the physical circulation of images, creases, folds, and all.
Introduction
Anne Collier (born Los Angeles, 1970) is an American visual artist working with appropriated photographic images. Describing Collier's work in Frieze art magazine, writer Brian Dillon said, "Collier uncouples the machinery of appropriation so that her found images seem weightless, holding their obvious meaning in abeyance."
Writing in The New York Times, Karen Rosenberg said "Anne Collier’s photographs of vintage books, album covers, posters and other ephemera, taken in an antiseptic white studio, look studiously detached at first. But after some time they reveal themselves as sensitive and involved responses to an earlier generation's visual culture."
Wikidata identifier
Q4768237
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed May 14, 2025.
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, photographer
ULAN identifier
500126082
Names
Anne Collier
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed May 14, 2025.
