Bijou Gets Undressed 3
Bijou Gets Undressed 3
Signed Print
Julian Opie
Screenprint, 2004
Signed Print Edition of 30
H 53cm x W 97cm
Critical Review
Julian Opie’s Bijou Gets Undressed 3 from his Bijou Gets Undressed series (2004) shows a female model in a sequence of five different poses, elegantly taking off her dress. Using computer-drawing programmes to complete his works, Opie would find a standardised version of the human figure, such as the signs used on lavatory doors, and combine this with a digital photograph of a real person.
Characteristic of Opie’s minimalist style, the figure has a blank circle floating above her body as a head and is defined only by an outline of clothing. This is indicative of Opie’s desire to create a syntax of signs from the human body, retaining a basic form but adding small details that reveal something unique about the model. Consequently, the figure in Bijou Gets Undressed 3 is both ambiguous and alluring.
Charged with an explicitly sexualised tone this print is dynamic in its sequential composition. By placing the figures next to one another in different poses from left to right, the viewer's eye follows the figure as she removes her dress, like watching a moving image. This clever use of composition gives the static print the appearance of a piece of animation, a medium that Opie has delved into throughout his career.
