Imagine You Are Driving (Fast)/Rio/Helmet
Imagine You Are Driving (Fast)/Rio/Helmet
Signed Print
Julian Opie
Digital Print, 2002
Signed Print Edition of 40
H 56cm x W 120cm
Critical Review
Julian Opie’s Imagine You Are Driving (Fast)/Rio/Helmet is part of a series of prints from 2002 that invite the viewer into a simulated world of Formula One race driving. On the left hand side of the composition Opie depicts an empty expanse of tarmac disappearing into the distance and devoid of all human presence. The right hand side of the print shows a portrait of a Formula One driver Rio Haryanto, indicating who’s view of the road we are seeing.
Rendered in Opie’s bold, linear style with block colour, the portrait of the driver hints to real-world advertisements and brands with the Honda logo and reflection of the Lucky Strike logo in the helmet. Much of Opie’s work directly relates to advertising and street signage of the contemporary world through his reductive visual language and use of saturated colour. Imagine You Are Driving (Fast)/Rio/Helmet takes this idea further by appropriating brand logos as part of the image.
Much like contemporary video games that simulate race driving, Imagine You Are Driving (Fast)/Rio/Helmet strikes the balance between the real and the imagined where the viewer can make their own virtual journey. Opie’s highly stylised landscape that is largely featureless is juxtaposed with the portrait of a driver and inclusion of brand logos that inject a human presence into the print.
