Kalliope Amorphous

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Kalliope Amorphous
Born1978 (age 45–46)
Providence, Rhode Island, United States
Occupation(s)Artist, photographer
Websitekalliopeamorphous.com

Kalliope Amorphous (born 1978)[1] is an American interdisciplinary artist who works in a variety of media, including photography, poetry, performance art, and olfactory art. She is primarily known for her conceptual self portraits. She lives and works in New York City.[2]

Style[edit]

Amorphous uses in-camera effects, modified lenses, mirrors, and handmade camera attachments. Her style, as she describes it, is conceptual photography with an emphasis on pictorialism and surrealism.[3] Acting as her own model, she explores the meaning of identity by assuming different roles.[4] Amorphous has stated that the "study of consciousness"[5] and the concept of duende[6] are primary influences in her work. She has also cited butoh as an influence.[7]

Overview[edit]

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Amorphous attended high school in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Upon graduating, she moved to New York City, where she experimented with modeling, acting, and performance poetry. In a 2008 interview with art critic Brian Sherwin, she cited her early social involvement in the New York City theater and cabaret scenes as influences in her early photographic work.[8]

A self-taught photographer, Amorphous began working exclusively with self-portrait photography while living in Rhode Island in 2007. Her early self-portraits focused on character studies, costuming, and makeup.[5]

Amorphous' 2009 Resurrecting Ophelia series of self-portraits cast her as the fictional character Ophelia. Like much of her later work, the series relied on in-camera effect with Amorphous positioned behind glass, acrylic, and textiles.[9] The series was exhibited in Amorphous' hometown in a solo exhibition at the Community College of Rhode Island[citation needed] and appeared in print in the premier issues of Dark Beauty magazine[10] and The Omen Magazine.[11]

In 2011, Amorphous was named in GLAAD's annual Top 100 Artists.[1] She received honorable mention for the Julia Margaret Cameron Award in the category of street photography from The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards.[12]

Amorphous's recent projects use distortion mirror boards created with reflective material. In her series Glass Houses, she appears in a series of surreal and distorted self-portraits which look as if they were submerged in water.[13] Of the series, Lancia Trendvisions wrote: "The mirror is just a surface. Exactly like the photographs that portray it. They cannot depict what is hidden under their patina: the distortions of our fears, the destructuring push of our desires. But photographer Kalliope Amorphous searches for just that impalpable spirit."[14] In her distorted self-portraits, Amorphous explores what she calls "the fluid nature of identity".[15]

In addition to self-portraits, Amorphous began working with glitch art in 2013. In 2014, she completed a series of experimental photographs of performance artist Marina Abramović.[16] Amorphous appears opposite Matthew Avedon in the music video Savage Way to Live for the Brooklyn-based band Relations.[17]

In 2015, her short film Contrast And Time was included in the Forever Now Project exhibited at Mona Foma.[18] Forever Now was an international project in response to the Voyager records of 1977, and culminated in a golden record containing 44 artists.[19][20]

Since 2016, Amorphous has been documenting the people and landmarks in her neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City in a series of street photographs. She is one of few female street photographers working in the genre.[21][22][23][24]

During the 2016 Presidential election, Amorphous endorsed candidate Hillary Clinton and completed a series of fine art photographs of Clinton on the campaign trail.[25][26]

In 2019, a 3D Virtual Exhibition of some of her works from her series Glass Houses was published as part of the permanent exhibitions in the TOROSIETE Museum of Contemporary Art.[27]

Perfume brand[edit]

Amorphous is the founder and perfumer behind the indie perfume house Black Baccara.[28][29] She founded the brand in 2010.[30] The house specializes in artisan perfume oils and Eau de Parfums[31] with themes similar to those Amorphous works with in her visual art.[32]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) (November 15, 2011). "OUTAuction 2011 Catalog". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ "Is This What Your Dreams Look Like?". HuffPost UK. April 25, 2012. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  3. ^ "Kalliope Amorphous Photography: Conceptual Pictorial Self Portraits". Astrum People. Retrieved April 22, 2014
  4. ^ "Kalliope Amorphous". Dazed, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2014
  5. ^ a b Romero, Juan Carlos (February 2011), In her own light: Kalliope Amorphous, Nau Nua: Art Magazine, archived from the original on February 29, 2012
  6. ^ Body Language (interview with Amorphous) (PDF), All the Thunder, retrieved May 7, 2019
  7. ^ Emerging Artist Interviews: Kalliope Amorphous, Musée Magazine, February 6, 2013, retrieved May 7, 2019
  8. ^ Sherwin, Brian (March 15, 2008). "Art Space Talk: Kalliope Amorphous". myartspace-blog.blogspot.com/. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  9. ^ "Hauntingly Beautiful Self-Portraits: Resurrecting Ophelia". My Modern Met. Retrieved April 23, 2014
  10. ^ Dark Beauty Magazine, Issue I, August 2010. Dark Beauty. Retrieved April 22, 2014
  11. ^ The Omen Magazine, Issue 1, 2010. The Omen Magazine. Retrieved April 22, 2014
  12. ^ "15th Julia Margaret Cameron Award's Professional Section". The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  13. ^ "Submerged Self Portraits: 'Glass Houses' by Kalliope Amorphous Uses Distortion Mirrors To Mesmerize". TrendHunter. Retrieved April 23, 2014
  14. ^ Beyond the Mirror, 'Glass Houses' by Kalliope Amorphous], Lancia TrendVisions, January 22, 2013, archived from the original on March 14, 2016
  15. ^ Hosmer, Katie (September 2, 2013), Dreamy Self-Portraits Created by Using a Moving Mirror, My Modern Met, retrieved May 7, 2019
  16. ^ Marina Abramovic Portrait by Kalliope Amorphous
  17. ^ "Relations Band film Page" Relations. Retrieved April 23, 2014 Archived April 27, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "Artists - Forever now". July 11, 2015. Archived from the original on July 11, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  19. ^ Northover, Kylie (January 6, 2014). "Golden record to spin through outer space". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  20. ^ "Forever Now | Bureau of Works". Bureau of Works | Just another WordPress site. October 1, 2014. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  21. ^ "The Urban Lens: Kalliope Amorphous captures the faces of the Upper West Side". 6sqft. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  22. ^ dodhomagazine (April 18, 2017). "Upper West Side Story: Street Photography By Kalliope Amorphous". Dodho. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  23. ^ "West Side Rag » THE STORY BEHIND THAT DEPRESSION SIGN ON 72ND STREET THAT SEEMED TO BE UP FOREVER". www.westsiderag.com. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  24. ^ "World Map Directory of Female Street Photographers, by Women in Street photography community". womeninstreet.com. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  25. ^ Jenkins, Mark (October 22, 2016). "In the galleries: Trump in poncho and sombrero, Clinton as a suffragette". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  26. ^ ""I'm With Her": These Hillary Clinton Portraits Were Taken On The Campaign Trail". designyoutrust.com. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  27. ^ "[1]"TOROSIETE Museum of Contemporary Art, Kalliope Amorphous
  28. ^ "How to avoid strong artificial scents when you travel". News Bytes Daily. April 20, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  29. ^ Barua, Meehika. "18 of the most iconic and popular perfumes to make your new signature scent". Insider. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  30. ^ "20 Queer-Owned Retailers and Brands to Support". Modest Rebels. June 3, 2021. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  31. ^ "5 Beauty Brands to Wow Your Holiday Gift-Giving". EDGE Media Network. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  32. ^ "An Interview with Fine Art Photographer Kalliope Amorphous". The Uncanny Archive. Retrieved May 29, 2021.

External links[edit]

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