Miranda July took to the stage at the West Hollywood Council Chambers the other weekend with an air of curiosity, lucidness and vulnerability. For her lecture “Artists on Artists: Miranda July on Catherine Opie,” she spoke about artist Catherine Opie’s latest show 700 Nimes Road, which is a collection of photographs of Elizabeth Taylor’s stuff and home that’s on view at the MOCA Pacific Design Center through May 8.
What began with a look at Opie’s new body of work led into July’s philosophy’s on our human desire to want “stuff” (materialism, in a sense), a brief history on Elizabeth Taylor, July’s artwork that deals some of these questions, and then July’s own relationship with Catherine Opie. Her talk was so intimate that at times it just felt like the whole audience was Miranda’s friend, there to catch up and hear her thoughts on things, and do a few moments of meditation for things that we felt sad about, as we do.
MOCA Curatorial Fellow Anna Katz gave the opening introduction added another layer to this by contextualizing July’s talk as a performance in and of itself, in relation to Opie and Taylor. “A person like Elizabeth Taylor exists and circulates like an image in our minds,” she said. “Opie’s strategy was not to have Taylor sit for a portrait; in fact, the two women never met. Opie takes photos of her home and personal moments at 700 Nimes Road in Bel-Air, and during that we see Opie’s camera in some of the reflections — a trail of breadcrumbs. It is a double portrait of Catherine Opie and Elizabeth Taylor alike, and I think today we’re getting a triplicate through the lens of Miranda July.”
Read more at http://www.craveonline.com/art/969793-miranda-july-catherine-opie-elizabeth-taylors-stuff#RCZ8HYDedtRoQDvZ.99
