This is Fiona

2000
Opie, Julian
This computer animation represents the British artist, Fiona Rae. The work reflects Julian Opie's interest in the conventions of portraiture along with his desire to update the genre using new technologies. Opie first began to experiment with digitally-animated portraiture in 1999. He started with portraits that blinked, before quickly moving onto animations in which the sitters appear to nod or shake their heads. By the time he made 'This is Fiona', Opie had introduced facial movements: Fiona blinks, smiles and raises her eyebrows in a gesture of friendly openness. 'This is Fiona' incorporates the simple, black outlines and the solid planes of colour that have become a trademark of Opie's approach. In 2001, Tom Lubbock, the art critic for 'The Independent', described Opie's portraits as being 'in the style of road signs, as if people who devised hair-pin bend warnings had been asked to turn their language of fat, black lines to the fine particularities of individual likeness - and had succeeded beautifully.' Natalie Rudd
  • Artwork Details: 48.3cm running time:
  • Edition: 1/3
  • Material description: continuous computer animation on 19 LCD screen
  • Credit line: © the artist
  • Theme:
  • Medium: Film and Audio Visual
  • Accession number: ACC45/2000

Share

Close
Artists
Artworks
Exhibitions
Articles
Other

The Arts Council Collection is the UK's most widely seen collection of modern and contemporary art.

With more than 8,000 works by over 2,000 artists, it can be seen in exhibitions and public displays across the country and beyond. This website offers unprecedented access to the Collection, and information about each work can be found on this site.