JULIAN OPIE, WATCHING SUZANNE (BACK) 4, WATCHING SUZANNE SERIES, SIGNED MIXED MEDIA, EDITION OF 25, 2006
Watching Suzanne (Back) 4 is a print from Julian Opie’s Watching Suzanne series from 2006. Showing a closely cropped image of a woman’s torso and thighs as viewed from the back, this print is depicted in Opie’s highly recognisable, graphic style. Using black line against a white backdrop, Opie creates the image with simplified shapes and block colour.
This series of prints is representative of Opie’s fascination with both movement and the human body. Reducing the human figure to the minimal elements by which it can be represented, this image is highly abstract. This is indicative of Opie’s desire to create a syntax of signs from the human form, retaining a basic form but including small details that reveal something unique about the model. Opie depicts this unique character by showing the movement of the figure through the entire series.
As a computer-generated image, rendered in such a way that the figure appears more like a sign than an individual, Opie produces a depersonalised portrait of a stereotypically attractive woman. Showing only the model’s torso, thus leaving out her face and other details that may distinguish the figure, Opie anonymises the image and forces the viewer to consider why they find this image so alluring.
Read more about Watching Suzanne 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.
