Artists

The artist, sculptor and engraver Julian Opie was born in Oxford in 1958. After studying at Chelsea College of Art, he decided to make his first sculptures in painted steel. Taking advantage of his talent and ingenuity, he comes to create paintings and installations in which the typical aspects of Pop Art and contemporary Minimalism merge to give life to something unique.

 

Opie's distinctive and characteristic trait turns out to be the remarkable stylization of his subjects, whether they are silhouettes, portraits or landscapes. The human figures, inspired by the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, assume particular poses; their faces, with simple features, seem to be almost predecessors of the current emoticons. The black outlines are filled in with flat color block strokes. Throughout his career he uses various material supports such as inkjet on canvas and paper, automotive and non-auto paint on aluminum, vinyl on painted wood and on walls, oil paint on steel, patinated bronze, screen printing on panel of painted wood, acrylic, aluminum and lights.

To date, he is considered one of the leading exponents of the New British Sculpture Movement (a predominantly abstract current that united several British sculptors in 1981).

 

His works are exhibited in international public collections, including Tate, London; British Museum, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Portrait Gallery, London; The Institut Valencia d'Art Modern; Essl Collection, Vienna; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Japan; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston.