Sophie Calle's California Connections Explored Through Retrospective and Personal Exchanges

French conceptual artist Sophie Calle, aged 72, is the subject of a traveling retrospective titled 'Overshare,' which opened at UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art. The exhibition examines themes of exposure and disclosure in her work. In a recent video interview, Calle discussed her connections to California, revealing personal memories and professional relationships. She described her first artistic endeavor in 1978, photographing graves in Bolinas, California, after meeting Kathy Ray, a member of Robert Wilson's theater company. Calle later purchased a burial plot in the same Bolinas cemetery in 2011. The artist shared unpublished writings about her friendship with architect Frank Gehry, who died in December 2025. Gehry designed a telephone booth for Calle in Paris and promised to create a funerary stele for her cat, though this remained unrealized. Calle's work often involves interactions with strangers, such as a 1999 request from a man in San Francisco to sleep in her bed, which she modified by shipping her bed to him instead. Her 1992 film 'No Sex Last Night,' made with then-boyfriend Greg Shephard, documented a road trip from New York to California. Calle's practice blends fact and fiction, with projects that include photographing hotel guests' belongings and inviting people to sleep in her bed. The 'Overshare' exhibition, originally organized by the Walker Art Center, features works about death, including a video of her mother's final moments. Calle declined to answer specific questions about California's influence on her art, stating it had not inspired her more than other locations like New York or Mexico.