Books by Catherine Opie
Connie Samaras: Tales of Tomorrow
by Charlotte Cotton, Lisa Bloom, Catherine Opie
Over the past two decades, Los Angeles-based artist Connie Samaras (born 1950) has used photography and video--as well as writing, teaching and political activism--to explore the aspirations and anxieties of the imagined future through depictions of built environments that she calls “speculative landscapes.” Dealing with the paradoxes of these surreal environments--vast, impersonal constructions such as the cities of Las Vegas and Dubai and the remote, scientific colonies of the South Pole or a commercial space launch facility in New Mexico--Samaras’ ongoing interest is in mapping political geographies and the psychological dislocation in the everyday. Despite critical acclaim and impressive solo exhibitions, Samaras’ work has not yet received the wider recognition it deserves. This volume, and the exhibition it accompanies at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, address this oversight, providing the first thorough overview of her ouevre to date.
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Chloe Sherman: Renegades. San Francisco: The 1990s
by Catherine Opie, Lynn Breedlove, Anna Joy Springer
A Candid Portrait of the 1990s New Wave of Queer Culture
'I carried my camera everywhere at the time. Photography was a casual, spontaneous, integrated part of my communication with somebody - it was built into the fabric of my life.' - Chloe Sherman, The Guardian
'For the queer community pictured in Chloe Sherman's new photo book, Renegades, self-presentation is a kind of sacred tongue.' - The New Yorker
In the 1990s, queer youth, outcasts and artists, flocked to San Francisco to find one another and to experiment with art, self-expression, style, and gender. Rent was affordable, paving the way for queer bars, clubs, tattoo shops, galleries, cafes, bookstores, and women-owned businesses to emerge. A new wave of feminism embraced gender bending, and butch/femme culture flourished. The Mission District was the center of this queer cultural renaissance, and the feeling of community was palpable. Chloe Sherman was both a member of this community and an ardent visual chronicler. Her documentary photographic work on 35mm film stems from a commitment to capturing the vibrancy, tenderness, individuality, resilience, and joy within this subculture that was derided by mainstream society. Distilling the spirit of the time, her debut monograph is a candid portrait of a vibrant era that connects current and future generations to the pulse of San Francisco at a pivotal chapter in queer history.
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