Regen Projects Presents New Works by Catherine Opie and Artist Talk

Caption: Catherine Opie, Cathy (London), 2017 (left) and Lawrence (Black Shirt), 2012 (right). Credit: © Catherine Opie, Courtesy Regen Projects.

On Thursday, Feb. 27, Regen Projects presents a new exhibition of works by Catherine Opie (Art MFA 88) titled Rhetorical Landscapes, the artist’s 10th solo exhibition at the gallery. 

Rhetorical Landscapes continues Opie’s research into “current American political landscape and the moving image,” featuring landscape photography and animated political collages.  In the center of the gallery space, eight supersized iPhone-like structures form a closed circle. Each structure’s monitor plays one of Opie’s animated collages, which are assembled from Trump-era magazine cuttings representing themes “embodying contemporary political issues” like nationalism, immigration, gun control, and climate change. Despite the gravity of such topics, Opie’s works are subtly imbued with satirical Monty Python-esque humor.

Opie is an LA-based fine art photographer and educator currently holding an endowed position in UCLA’s Department of Art, where she has served as a professor of photography since 2001. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2016 Smithsonian Archives of American Art Medal, the 2013 Julius Shulman Excellence in Photography Award, the 2009 Women’s Caucus for Art President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement, the 2006 United States Artists Fellowship, the 2004 Larry Aldrich Award, the 1999 Washington University Freund Fellowship, and the 1997 Citibank Private Bank Emerging Artist Award.

Opie’s exhibition runs concurrently with conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner’s ON VIEW from Thursday, Feb. 27 to Saturday, April 4. A related conversation between Opie and Weiner, moderated by Dagny Corcoran (Art Catalogues) on Saturday, Feb. 29.

Rhetorical Landscapes’ opening reception takes place Thursday, Feb. 27 from 6 to 8 pm.