JULIAN OPIE, This Is Shahnoza In 3 Parts 4, SIGNED MIXED MEDIA, EDITION OF 30, 2008
This Is Shahnoza In 3 Parts 4 is a mixed media print from Julian Opie’s This Is Shahnoza In 3 Parts series from 2008 that stemmed from his work with a pole dancer called Shahnoza who he met in Soho, London. The print shows an image of Shahnoza nude and lying horizontally with her left knee bent and right leg outstretched. Opie produces the print in a horizontal format made up of three framed panels, that echoes the pose of the figure.
This print is representative of Opie’s desire to form new and dynamic compositions from the same model, opting in this case for a full-length horizontal format that differs from his iconic full-length vertical portraits of people. In order to create the images of Shahnoza, Opie worked with the professional pole dancer for two days, taking over 1,000 photographs each day, simultaneously using two video cameras to capture her movements in real time. Opie therefore had an abundance of material to create many portraits of the same model.
The images used for this series are directly transferred from Opie’s This is Shahnoza Horizontal series from 2007. This is indicative of Opie’s desire to repeat and transform the same composition into a multitude of formats. This Is Shahnoza In 3 Parts is rendered in this semi-sculptural format that encourages the viewer to think about the human form in an unusual and fragmented way.
Read more about This Is Shahnoza In 3 Parts by Julian Opie.
ABOUT JULIAN OPIE
British artist Julian Opie challenges traditional approaches to portraiture through his digitally designed and seemingly contradictory, depersonalised works. Working also with landscapes and cityscapes, Opie’s highly stylised work involves the reduction of photographs or short films into figurative reproductions created using computer software. The hallmarks of his artistic style are portraits and animated walking figures, rendered with minimal detail in black line drawing. Learn more about Julian Opie.
