Kris Walking

Throughout his career, Opie has produced many images of people walking in the form of static prints, paintings, sculpture, and moving images. Using photographs taken by the artist, each print is then manipulated and reduced to a matter of simplified shapes and signs to represent a figure. Producing anonymous ‘passers-by’ with which to populate his world, Opie’s figures are not devoid of personality thus maintaining a sense of individuality within multiplicity. The figure in Kris Walking is defined by his long hair and clothing and is thus reduced to a ‘type’ that prompts the viewer to think about how we relate and resemble one another.

Kris Walking is indicative of Opie’s interest in using computer technology as a key component to his work, producing a moving image through lenticular printing. Opie is interested in movement as means to differentiate between people and as a way to strike the balance between stylisation and realism in his works. The movement in this image appears far more realistic than expected, despite the fact that the figure’s form is highly stylised and so Opie presents movement itself as a form of realism.