Body Art
I saw Catherine Opie’s retrospective at the Guggenheim last year and liked some of it very much, especially the portraits of suburban houses and ice fishermen. But the work she’s best known for–high definition, large format portraits of subculture communities– sometimes seems too obvious to me. The piercings, the full-body tattoos, the shaved heads, and combat boots just reinforce what we think we know about those bodies.
The image at right comes from a new exhibit of Opie’s work at the Gladstone Gallery in Manhattan, on display until April 24th. It shares themes with the other larger portraits, but I admire its restraint. The close-up hand decorated by hand and clutching the knee is beautifully composed as it emerges from the deep black shadows. The fingers feel almost individualized, each with its own posture and insignia. The tattooed symbols are open-ended and mysterious, especially the most conventional one — that looks like a wedding ring. This hand is telling us something, but it speaks a language of its own.
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In: body art, contemporary, photography, portraiture · Tagged with: Catherine Opie