NPG buys a Dyson
August 5 2011
Picture: Sir James Dyson, 2010 by Julian Opie © Julian Opie / National Portrait Gallery, London; commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery with the support of J.P. Morgan through the Fund for New Commissions. Inkjet on canvas, 1438 x 1082 (56 5/8 x 42 5/8)
The National Portrait Gallery, London, has acquired a newly commissioned portrait of the inventory James Dyson by Julian Opie. Here, Opie describes the process of making the portrait: [More below]
James Dyson came to my studio discuss the portrait some weeks before the sitting. This gave me a chance to study his face and his expressions, to watch his mannerisms and get an idea of what style might best suit him. He came with the Director of the National Portrait Gallery and looked relatively formal but I sensed that he was more at ease when active. We discussed possible dates and possible outfits. Before the sitting I gathered two groups of images, some of Godfrey Kneller’s Kit-Kat Club portraits (many of which hang in the National Portrait Gallery) and all my collection of male figure Manga cells from Japanese Anime films. While my photographer shot rapid fire digital shots that loaded directly onto her computer I referred to these printed images laid out on the floor to find good poses, props and lighting. As I suspected, the more lively anime poses and lighting suited Dyson better with casual sailing clothes as an outfit. I asked Dyson to talk to me about his holidays while he posed so that his face was animated, though in the final picture his mouth is closed. It takes almost as long to choose from the hundreds of photographs taken as it does to actually draw a model. I draw over and under the photo on the computer using a digital pen and a large screen, zooming in and out, adding and subtracting, adjusting, adding and simplifying. The drawing takes a day, fiddling with it takes a couple more. Downstairs I have a state of the art Epsom inkjet printer so I can work closely with an assistant to colour correct seemingly endless proofs on different canvases and with different settings to try to get close to the richness of the screen image. The smooth thick ink and gloss varnish, the metal frame and the canvas all give the object the appearance of a painting while the image hovers between drawing, photograph, film and sign, always trying for realism.
