Freeway Series

1994 - Photography (Photography)

2.25H x 6.75W inches each

Catherine Opie

location: Los Angeles, California
year born: 1961
gender: female
nationality: American
home town: Sandusky, Ohio

Although best known as a provocateur and portraitist, Opie also photographs landscapes, cityscapes, and architecture. The Freeway Series was developed in 1995, right after the artist’s inclusion in that year’s Whitney Biennial. As if suggesting that her work should not be restricted to being seen through overtly political or activist lenses, this series lends insight into the city of Los Angeles via its most characteristic urban feature: its highways. By documenting the monumental concrete structures devoid of humans or vehicles, one is suddenly conscious of their real scale, an element only emphasized by the small format of the printed photographs. The otherwise unnoticed massive structures are thus made strange. Like Allen Ruppersberg’s Untitled (City Limits) , which also are taken along the freeway, Opie’s photographs have particular resonance within the Kadist’s “101 Collection.”


Since the 1990s, Catherine Opie has been recognized for her use of documentary photography to address issues of community and queerness, and the ways in which identity is shaped by architecture. Particularly resonant during the Culture Wars of the 1980s and early 1990s—a time in which the religious right tried to impose itself as a political force and cultural censor—Opie’s photographs privilege the representation of specific communities, whether the LGBT, teenagers, surfers, football players, or her group of friends who engage in sexual role playing, tattooing, and piercing.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette

The Art of Fashion and Legacy: Carla Sozzani and Byronesque’s Unique Collaboration
© » DIANE PERNET

The Art of Fashion and Legacy: Carla Sozzani and Byronesque’s Unique Collaboration – A Shaded View on Fashion https://byronesque.com/fondazione_sozzani/ Dear Shaded Viewers, In a remarkable intersection of art and fashion, Carla Sozzani, the revered figure in the world of fashion, has embarked on a unique collaboration with Byronesque...

Shadows V, Set of 3
© » KADIST

Charles Gaines

1980

To make his series Shadows (1980), Gaines subjected 20 potted plants to a uniform procedure...

Citydance (Part 1)
© » KADIST

Co-presented with the CCA Wattis, as part of the City of Disappearances exhibition, Kadist presents two evenings of outdoor screenings of eight different video artworks on building exteriors in San Francisco...

Curator Lauren Haynes Revisits a 1966 Profile of Spiral, Pioneering Black Art Collective
© » ARTNEWS RETROSPECTIVE

Curator Lauren Haynes Revisits ARTnews’s 1966 Profile of Spiral Group – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Alex Greenberger Plus Icon Alex Greenberger Senior Editor, ARTnews View All November 4, 2020 5:15pm ©ARTnews I n 1963, 14 Black artists in New York formed the Spiral group...

Upcoming Lecture with Jonathan Calm
© » PIER 24

Pier 24 Upcoming Lecture with Jonathan Calm - Pier 24 Upcoming Lecture with Jonathan Calm October 1, 2019 Jonathan Calm, Green Book (Jackson II), 2016 Pier 24 Photography announces an upcoming lecture by artist Jonathan Calm, the 2019 recipient of the Larry Sultan Photography Award...

Constituent
© » KADIST

Cameron Rowland

2014

Rowland’s minimal installations require a focus not on the objects themselves, but on the conditions of their creation, use, and distribution...

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz Are Bringing Their Art Collection to the Brooklyn Museum
© » OBSERVER

Brooklyn Museum to Exhibit Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz Art Collection | Observer Singer Alicia Keys and hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz aren’t only a power couple in the world of music...

Product Designer Tino Seubert: Between The Industrial And The Organic
© » IGNANT

Product Designer Tino Seubert: Between The Industrial And The Organic - IGNANT Name Tino Seubert Images Clemens Poloczek Words Marie-Louise Schmidlin “I try to discover the beauty in things that may not seem very appealing at first glance...

buZ Blurr, One Telling of the “Origin Story” at Straat Museum Amsterdam
© » BROOKLYN STREET ART

buZ Blurr, One Telling of the “Origin Story” at Straat Museum Amsterdam | Brooklyn Street Art BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY In the shifting culturescapes of urban contemporary art, STRAAT Museum’s latest exhibition, “Moniker: An Origin Story,” emerges as a poignant narrative that bridges the transient heritage of hobo monikers with the vibrant pulse of today’s street art scene...

Mathew Brandt at Rossi & Rossi
© » ARTOMITY

Mathew Brandt at Rossi & Rossi – ARTOMITY 藝源 Mathew Brandt / Learning to Surf Jan 27 – Mar 9, 2024 / Opening: Saturday, Jan 27, 2pm – 6pm / Rossi & Rossi 11F, 54 Wong Chuk Hang Road Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong +852 2116 5282 Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 6pm rossirossi.com The outcome of Matthew Brandt’s (b...

Press Release: Art21 to Release New Film: “Hannah Levy’s Adaptive Structures”
© » ART21

Press Release: Art21 to Release New Film: “Hannah Levy’s Adaptive Structures” | Art21 Our Series Art in the Twenty-First Century Extended Play New York Close Up Artist to Artist William Kentridge: Anything Is Possible Specials Art21.live An always-on video channel featuring programming hand selected by Art21 Playlists Curated by Art21 staff, with guest contributions from artists, educators, and more Art21 Library Explore over 700 videos from Art21's television and digital series Latest Video 15:03 Add to watchlist Politics of Listening Lawrence Abu Hamdan Extended Play February 7, 2024 Search Searching Art21… Welcome to your watchlist Look for the plus icon next to videos throughout the site to add them here...

Cyclope by Carlos Amorales
© » KADIST

For the last two years, Mexico-City based artist Carlos Amorales has been developing a series of works in relation to what he calls “Cubismo ideológico”...

Justine Kurland Interviewed by Bean Gilsdorf
© » BOMB

BOMB Magazine | Justine Kurland Interviewed Necessary (Required) Cookies that the site cannot function properly without...

Jeremy Grayson obituary
© » THE GUARDIAN

Jeremy Grayson obituary | Photography | The Guardian Skip to main content Skip to navigation Skip to navigation Jeremy Grayson photographed Shirley Bassey, Sammy Davis Jr and Marlon Brando Jeremy Grayson photographed Shirley Bassey, Sammy Davis Jr and Marlon Brando Obituary Jeremy Grayson obituary My father, Jeremy Grayson, who has died aged 90, was a professional photographer who worked over the years for clients including the BBC, Radio Times, Talk of the Town and the London Palladium...

Armless
© » KADIST

Chloe Piene

2005

The figure in Armless tapers away...

Extrastellar Evaluations
© » KADIST

Yin-Ju Chen

2016

Through a semi-fictional approach, Extrastellar Evaluations envisions a version of history in which alien inhabitants, the Lemurians, lived among humans under the guise of various renowned conceptual and minimal artists in the 1960s (Carl Andre, Mel Bochner, and James Turrell to name a few)...

Residential apartments/ water reserve & wind towers on Sayad highway, Fabrications
© » KADIST

Nazgol Ansarinia

2013

In the early 2000s, as urban redevelopment accelerated and intense construction significantly diminished public space in Tehran, state-funded murals began to represent imaginary landscapes on building facades...

The Drawings of Catriona Secker
© » HIGH FRUCTOSE

In her graphite drawings and paintings, Catriona Secker finds inspiration in biology textbooks and vintage natural history tomes...

Ge ekabe Women / Ge ekabe Men
© » KADIST

Dineo Seshee Bopape

This dyptich installation is coming from a research/ installation Sa koša ke lerole (2016 – ongoing) started during the Montreal biennale (curated by Philippe Pirotte), then recently exhibited at Grahamstown National Arts Festival...