Name: Imagine You Are Driving (Fast) /Olivier
Brand: Julian Opie
Rating: 5 (234 reviews)

Track auction value trend

Julian Opie's Imagine You Are Driving (Fast) /Olivier (signed) is a Digital Print from 2002, estimated to be worth between £3,150 and £4,750. This artwork has sold once at auction on 17th January 2024. There have been no sales in the last 12 months. Over the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £1,750 in February 2024 to £2,200 in September 2025. The average annual growth rate of this work is 5%. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 40.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

January 2024

Phillips London

United Kingdom

Meaning & Analysis

Characteristic of the artist’s minimalist graphic style, Imagine You Are Driving (Fast)/Olivier is a print from Julian Opie’s Imagine You Are Driving (Fast) series from 2002. This print shows a landscape view of a racetrack alongside a portrait image of Formula 1 driver Olivier Panis. In this series, Opie brings the world of Formula 1 into the art world to create an unusual juxtaposition that challenges normative representation.

Working from digital photographs Opie develops his images from his immediate personal experience but depersonalises through the use of simplified form and new computer technology. This depersonalisation of the image works to offer the viewer not a representation of life but a commodity, that of being able to make their own individual imaginative journey within this scene.

Opie has spoken of the subversive and imaginative qualities to his work saying, “I think my work is about trying to be happy… I want the world to seem like the kind of place you’d want to escape into... Mundane things are just as exciting as all the things you might imagine escaping into.” Imagine You Are Driving (Fast)/Olivier transforms the world of Formula 1 into an otherworldly realm that resembles a video game, offering the viewer a sense of escapism and possibility.

Julian Opie, born in 1958, dances through the contemporary art scene with a distinctive digital allure. A trailblazer of the 1980s New British Sculpture movement, Opie's work is a highly stylised blend of Pop Art and minimalism which navigates the intersection of technology and visual expression. From his early experiments with computer-generated art to his iconic portraits and animated installations, Opie's work exudes a captivating simplicity. His signature style, marked by bold lines and reduced forms, is internationally recognisable and has made him a key player in British contemporary art.