Watching Suzanne (front) 5
Watching Suzanne (front) 5
Signed Mixed Media
Julian Opie
Price data unavailable
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
There aren't enough data points on this work for a comprehensive result. Please speak to a specialist by making an enquiry.
Medium: Mixed Media
Edition size: 25
Year: 2006
Size: H 83cm x W 57cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Mixed Media
TradingFloor
Track this artwork in realtime
Watch artwork, manage valuations, track your portfolio and return against your collection
Meaning & Analysis
Taken from Julian Opie’s Watching Suzanne series from 2006, Watching Suzanne (front) 5 shows a tightly cropped image of a woman’s torso and thighs, wearing only her underwear. Opie creates a highly stylised image, depicting the woman’s body with thick, black lines against a white backdrop.
Watching Suzanne (front) 5 is exemplary of Opie’s working process that is far more arduous than the print itself reveals. For similar works such as Opie’s This is Shahnoza series from 2006, the artist worked with a professional model for a number of days, taking thousands of photographs, simultaneously using a video camera to capture the figure’s movements in real time. Opie then refines what he is going to draw and renders the image on the computer to produce a variety of images.
As a computer-generated image, rendered in such a way that the figure appears more like a sign than an individual, Opie produces a depersonalised portrait of a stereotypically attractive woman. Showing only the model’s torso, thus leaving out her face and other details that may distinguish the figure, Opie anonymises the image and forces the viewer to consider why they find this image so alluring.
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.
