Iß]
20
WWW JU STOUT COM
JANUARY 7 2011
STATE OF THE ARTS
"I was really thinking iconic
butch women, and Kate
I got to he a part o f this amazing queer com
ways shot large format, I was
munity. It’s queer mecca. I got involved with
perfectly happy to make the
the leather community.
switch. I use the Hasselhlad
being such on odd moment
H 2 with a Phase One 45+
of that. It's on LA. butch, not
Just Out: W hat are your main influences?
hack.
what most of us consider os
Opie: It ranges. 1 bounce off a dialogue
around painting, and to a certain extent inher
[Moenning. of The L Word]
Just Out: In the Girl
ently it’s very photographic. I would say that friends exhibit, are you us
butch. I started thinking about
whot that meant, and where
my main influences are the different schools o f
ing that same camera?
thoughts and just bouncing off o f that and
from the first school of thought in relationship
Opie:Yes. G irlfrien ds also
for me is a play in terms o f
to what I really studied with the [John] Szar-
identity and relation to girl
kowski school, the [Museum o f Modern Art]
friends. So many hutches are mainly boyfriends,
lost to transitioning in terms o f men. I was
definition o f photography through early Amer
and not really girlfriends. I really wanted to
thinking about how butch [is] being lost and
ican photographers, the [Farm Security Ad
bring back an old school conversation o f “you’re
what does it mean to maintain that, and I
ministration], what they did in terms o f [Doro
my girlfriend vs. my boyfriend” and not in any
wanted to go back to portraits, too. I missed
Opie: Amazing, o f course. Four floors o f the
thea] Lange and [Walker] Evans.
way to shake up the transgendered community
making a queer body o f work, and I wanted to
Guggenheim. It was unbelievable, scary and
at all. It’s always been that I’ve been butch on
go back to making some portraits. I’m very sat
exciting. It made me cry, it affected me so much.
hutch. I never call my girlfriends my boyfriend.
isfied when I’m doing that, so the body o f work
I get to experience this thing. The best part was
She’s still my girlf riend.
just culminated in my own desire.
the party. All my friends came in; Justin Bond
Just Out: Do you think you focus too much
on classicism?
f ^ Q f \ x / q s ¡ 0
our culture."
-CATHERINE OPIE
Opie: I believe that there’s a certain sense o f
how one should seduce and hold the viewer. In
family.
Just Out: How did it feel to get a Guggen
heim retrospective?
performed, it was this awesome dance party
Just Out: W ith Girlfriends, how did that se
Just Out: A lot of the people from Girl
that went until 3 o’clock in the morning, just
terms o f using a classical or traditional ap
ries come around? W hen did it start, and friends are very well known. Was that a pur
like art world mixed with my S/M San Fran
proach to aesthetics, it’s one way you redly end
when did it culminate into a show for you?
cisco leather community. My L.A. community
up being able to hold the viewer in relation to
poseful choice?
Opie: I think it started with photographing
Op ie: Yes, I wanted this notion o f iconic, hut
was there— a really amazing celebration. All
Kate [Moenning, o f The L WorJ\. I was really
also the iconic [becoming] personal. W e’ve be
my friends trusted me with their images early
thinking iconic hutch women, and Kate being
come iconic together; we’ve grown up together.
on. ... People that I was meeting, they just
such an odd moment o f that. It’s an L.A. butch,
It’s mainly within my generation ... JD being
trusted for me to do these images o f them.
not what most o f us consider as butch. I started
the youngest one, but I’ve known her since she
The effect that they became so important in
Opie: Everything is digital now. Once a
thinking about what that meant, and where
was 15 years old. She’s one o f my best friend’s
the queer lexicon o f language is remarkable. So
camera was made that could match what can
that was in our culture. There were a lot o f com
nieces out here in California. So I remember
they were also there to celebrate what it meant
be done with a 4x5 or 8x10 camera, cause I al
plaints that a lot o f the good hutches have been
when JD came out; in a way she becomes
beyond me, but on a larger platform as well.
pieces. 1 am somewhat rigid as a formalist.
Just Out: Do you use mainly analog or tra
ditional photography methods?
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