Catherine Opie
Jake

Jake

© Catherine Opie, Courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles

Jake
Jake
ArtistAmerican, born 1961
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Jake
  • from the series Being and Having
Date1991
MediumChromogenic print
DimensionsImage: 14 5/8 × 18 5/8 in. (37.1 × 47.3 cm)
Sheet: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Frame (outer): 17 1/8 × 21 1/16 × 2 in. (43.5 × 53.5 × 5.1 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
Object number2008.10
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Special Collections
Object Type
Description

Within her community of butch lesbians in San Francisco
and Los Angeles, Catherine Opie found women like Jake who push traditional boundaries
of gender by playfully masquerading masculinity. Upon close inspection, Jake’s
mustache and its glue and netting are noticeable in this close-cropped portrait.
Like much of the facial hair in Opie’s series Being and Having
, this mustache is meant to be easily recognized as
fake. “Jake,” the name engraved in the frame’s nameplate, is the pictured
model’s macho alter-ego



—another playful adaptation that challenges gender as
being something rigid and fixed.




Provenance[Regen Projects, Los Angeles]; purchased by MFAH, 2008.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
No visible marks or inscriptions - framed
Printed back label: "REGEN PROJECTS / Catherine Opie / Jake from "Being and Having" / 1991 / ... / Ed. 3/8 + 2APs / CO 253 / 633 NORTH ALMONT DRIVE LOS ANGELES, ... / www.regenprojects.com"

Engraved metal plaque on lower center of frame: "Jake"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

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