Shaida walks the streets of Carnaby rain or shine, day or night…
Recognised across the globe for his iconic style, Julian Opie created a new, permanent public work that premiered at Lumiere London 2016.
Shaida Walking. 2015 takes pride of place amongst the bustling streets of the vibrant area of Soho. The subject of Opie’s illuminated work is placed on Broadwick Street opposite Carnaby Street, the pedestrianised shopping zone.
But of course we also have Suzanne Walking in a Leather Skirt 2006 in Dulin at the Hugh Lane Gallery
Both, installations are super cool in an artistic sense of things. However, they are also a great example of the idea of the resolving power of the eye.
The resolving power of the human eye is the ability to distinguish two points or details as separate objects. In ideal conditions, the eye’s resolving power is about 60 arc seconds, or 1 minute of arc. However, the ability to resolve objects can decrease with age due to a number of factors, including reduced pupil size.
Here are some other things to know about the resolving power of the eye:
The eye’s resolving power is limited by the wavelength of visible light. Objects that are smaller than the wavelength of light used cannot be resolved.
Microscopes can resolve objects that are much smaller than the human eye can see. For example, a light microscopes can resolve objects that are 1000 times smaller than what the human eye can see. But, we can see a lot more using quantum tunnelling microscope setups than this.
The resolving power of optics can be calculated using the rule of thumb 115/D, where D is the lens aperture in millimetres.
If we think about these images formed from single spaced out light sources, if we move far enough back, they appear to be a single image.
This is exactly what happens with an LED TV or monitor where you can see the pixels if you get close enough. All TV screen manufacturers are trying to go for a continuous view, but clearly its impossible as the whole system works on turning on and off individual lights.
