Name: This Is Shahnoza 2
Brand: Julian Opie
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Julian Opie's This Is Shahnoza 2 (signed) from 2006 is estimated to be worth between £4,450 and £6,500. This screenprint has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 7%. This work has an auction history of four total sales since its entry to the market on 7th December 2011. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 40.

Meaning & Analysis

Featuring a pole dancing figure in a sequence of static poses, This Is Shahnoza 2 is a print from Julian Opie’s This Is Shahnoza series from 2006. Depicted in Opie’s trademark bold and linear style, the figure is rendered without facial features, with only a blank circle as a head. In his use of simplified line and clearly delineated shapes, Opie portrays this figure as an anonymised archetype of male desire.

Through a sequence of static poses that show the dancing figure moving around the pole, Opie creates a sense of movement within the image in a way that reflects movement in films. Opie orientates the figure’s head and body towards the viewer in order to suggest her awareness of being watched and makes clear that this sequence of movements is conforming to a particular performance tradition.

Rather than depicting someone to be recognised, the figure in This Is Shahnoza 2 is reduced to a ‘type’, presenting the viewer with a response to iconography found in the cultural mainstream that reflects the stereotypically ‘sexy’ woman. At the same time, Opie depicts the figure as always facing the viewer, and so by self-consciously subjecting herself to being looked at, she maintains her sovereignty over the desiring gaze and disrupts the expectations of the viewer.