This Is Shahnoza In 3 Parts 9
This Is Shahnoza In 3 Parts 9
Signed Mixed Media
Julian Opie
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121 x 115cm, Edition of 30, Mixed Media
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Meaning & Analysis
The final print of Julian Opie’s This Is Shahnoza collection, This Is Shahnoza In 3 Parts 9 shows an image of a female model leaning backwards on to her forearms, with her legs crossed in the air. In partitioning the image into three parts, the viewer compartmentalises the figure’s body and Opie makes the viewer question how we might sexualise and fragment the female form.
This Is Shahnoza In 3 Parts 9 is rendered in Opie’s trademark linear style, showing the figure with a blank circle as a head, and her feet cut off, showing only straps for shoes. Opie’s images of people engage with longstanding ideas that have characterised art history by questioning what intrinsic elements are needed to convey a narrative or person’s character. However, Opie turns this tradition in art history by explicitly citing the model as a professional pole dancer.
Drawing from the choreography, gestures and typical iconography of strip shows and catwalks, throughout the series Opie depicts the figure in a range of dynamic and theatrical poses that effectively catch the viewer’s attention. In reducing the figure to a ‘type’ rather than depicting a recognisable individual, Opie succinctly conveys the way in which seemingly natural human behaviour is made up of learned performance codes.