Catherine Opie at the Guggeinheim

Ambiguous. Disturbing. These two words come to mind as I walk into Catherine Opie’s “Being and Having” and “Portraits” photograph galleries at the Guggeinheim Museum. As opposed to her black-and-white photos of urban infrastructures, such as highways, found at a lower level of the museum, the portraits at the entrance to these particular galleries are rebellious and dazzling in nature; as one wanders further in, it becomes quite disturbing of what people do to their bodies so that even their specific genders can be manipulated and played around with. Dazzling – because of the bright backgrounds and vivid facial details of the subjects’ faces. Rebellious- because of the excessive amount of tattoos, piercings, and rings on the faces that show the subjects are going against the norms of society. These series of images explore notions of communal, sexual, and cultural identity. The portraits along the wall at the entrance are half-body poses, and the subjects are of different originalities. They all have body rings in the most unusual parts of their faces.

Photographs in the “Being and Having” category toy with outward signs of gender. “Vaginal Davis,” being the most vulgar, simply attracts one with bright green fuzzy hair as the wig and pubic hair covering the private part. An example of a gender reassignment, a man is under this absurd costume but it gives him a feminine quality that one cannot at once distinguish the particular gender. He may have the attributes of a female but but he has the masculine body underneath. The subject is bold to pose in such an exposed manner where he is almost completely naked except for the fuzzy props. This boldness represents rebellion against the fact that gender is established from birth and remains stable.

“Frankie” from the “Portraits” category is part of a series of portraits in the leather culture of the community of San Francisco. Tattoos on the arms, rings on the nipples, and rings on the chin and ears represent defiance and acting out. Already one can tell from the steady, steely gaze of his eyes that he is a rebellious person who chooses to act against the norms of society by transforming his body into a work of art. All of the portraits have really bright backgrounds where the subjects look straight on into the camera.

“Divinity Fudge” is a photo of a woman, possibly of a man because of the masculine face, who stands in a defiant pose. Hand on hips, stomach protruding out, the subject stares steadily into the camera. He/she appears to be showing off the physical features of the  body; he/she appears to be proud of it and decides not to hide any part of it. It is astounding how a little bit of effort to apply lipstick to the face can transform the subject into a female for this moment in the particular snapshot.

Opie is definitely a unique photographer-whose works I definitely enjoyed looking at. Being mostly conservative I found most of the photographs absolutely shocking because of the boldness they display the themes of sexuality and gender. The photographs were very pleasing and eccentric, nonetheless, and Opie is the photographer that I recommend everyone interested in photography to definitely check out.