A text written by Julian Opie about his artwork Faime. 1. 2016.
I have drawn people walking using two systems. The first was to place people on a walking machine and film them. This works well as it’s very controlled and regular. The other system is to film people on the street with a hidden camera, which gives a more ‘real’ feeling of natural speed and interesting outfits. People carry cups, phones and cigarettes and walk at a natural pace.
I decided to try to combine the two by taking pedestrians off the street in front of my studio and paying them to walk on a walking machine. I asked my wife and daughter (who are charming) to offer £50 to people as they passed and ask them to be a model for twenty minutes. They signed a simple contract to avoid any future problems and left their name and contact details.
Most of the models worked in the area which is a centre of design and photography and digital companies. Faime worked at one of these local companies. We worked around the middle of the day when people were out having lunch. I avoided controlling what he was wearing and asked him to walk at his natural speed, adjusting the walking machine to suit his natural pace. I had planned to include bags and phones etc but in the end I only used the simplest versions.
I drew some 15 people like this, as animated films, using around thirty drawings to complete the full stride and then I drew them all again in a simpler manner with no neck or feet. This gave me two animated films of each person but also gave me around thirty drawings of each walker. From these drawings, I made a range of works depicting single walkers, couples and even groups. Thus, a large body of work emerged over the two year period of doing this: ‘The Invited Walkers’.
When one invents something, I feel you are limited to your experience and imagination but the real world is so much richer and more surprising. I never would have decided on the camouflage trousers but they proved very useful (though a lot of work to animate).
Humans are almost unique in their bipedal method of walking. They say that over distance, humans can outrun gazelle and antelope. We are built to run and walk and each person’s walk is individual and very specific and revealing of character. I have drawn over a hundred animated walkers and even more of people where I just draw one or two still images of a pedestrian. I feel that I know many types of walking, and to some degree understand the inner workings of a body in motion. Out on the street, however, is an endless palette of humans, each with telling details and particular styles.
Like a full-length old master painting, the scale of Faime is pretty much life size. The materials, however, are modern – borrowed from the world of public signage and advertising.
A striding human is an image with a long history, stretching back thousands of years to the early Egyptian and Assyrian empires. It gives a dynamic and powerful sense to a human form, but since he is walking past you there is no real connection and you can watch him pass without his noticing you.