Detective
Detective
Signed Print
Julian Opie
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87 x 61cm, Edition of 50, Digital Print
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Meaning & Analysis
Detective is a signed digital print made by the acclaimed British artist Julian Opie in 2014. The print comes in an edition size of 50 and shows a man on the phone who appears to be walking across the composition. The man is wearing a white shirt and blue trousers, the badge attached to his belt suggests he is at work and the title of the print indicates that he is a detective.
Detective is part of Opie’s Walking In London collection which features prints of different people from a wide variety of professions in transit, walking from one place to another during their working day. Opie does not capture these people at work, doing the interesting things the titles of the prints suggest they do. Instead, Opie chooses to depict these people when they are doing the most banal of activities, walking. Speaking about his representation of the ordinary and everyday, Opie explains: “mundane things are just as exciting as all the things you might imagine escaping into”.
The figure in Detective is rendered in Opie’s unique visual style, characterised by his use of simple forms, thick outlines and blocks of flat colour. Opie duplicates the man’s legs and blurs them which produces an illusion of movement and gives the impression the detective pictured here is in a rush.
Julian Opie, born in 1958, dances through the contemporary art scene with a distinctive digital allure. A trailblazer of the 1980s New British Sculpture movement, Opie's work is a highly stylised blend of Pop Art and minimalism which navigates the intersection of technology and visual expression. From his early experiments with computer-generated art to his iconic portraits and animated installations, Opie's work exudes a captivating simplicity. His signature style, marked by bold lines and reduced forms, is internationally recognisable and has made him a key player in British contemporary art.
