In monument/monumental, a suite of seven new large format works from 2020, Catherine Opie examines the fragility, beauty, and power of the American landscape―and American identity―during this pivotal moment in time.
Over the course of her decades-long career Opie has traveled extensively across the country, exploring the diversity of America’s communities and landscapes and documenting quintessential American subjects ranging from high school football players to the 2008 presidential inauguration. Today, amidst the backdrop of the global pandemic, the nation’s devastating rise in unemployment, the Black Lives Matter movement, and public uprisings against police violence, and the lead up to the critical 2020 United States presidential election, Opie again embarked on a road trip―this time across the country in a newly purchased RV―to document the people, places, and landmarks that have become the visual markers of the country’s upheaval. The resulting images not only bear witness to this moment, but also offer a poetic expression of the emotional and psychological dimensions of the complexity of American identity.
This In Focus presentation corresponds with a digital showcase of Opie’s monument/monumental series in Art Basel OVR: Portals, running online June 16–19, 2021.
Learn more about Opie’s 2020 road trip in the online viewing room On the Road with Catherine Opie.
About In Focus
In Focus presentations are a recent addition to the Lehmann Maupin program that allow the gallery to highlight a crucial aspect of an artist’s practice. These installations offer public access to recent, or timely and significant works by the gallery’s artists and provide greater flexibility for Lehmann Maupin to contextualize its growing international program. Installed in the gallery at 501 West 24th Street or showcased online, these presentations run concurrently with the gallery’s existing exhibition program.