Julian Opie

Julian Opie was born in London and graduated from Goldsmiths School of Art in 1983. He lives and works in London.

Opie’s distinctive formal language is instantly recognisable and reflects his artistic preoccupation with the idea of representation, and the means by which images are perceived and understood.

Always exploring different techniques both cutting edge and ancient, Opie plays with ways of seeing through reinterpreting the vocabulary of everyday life; his reductive style evokes both a visual and spatial experience of the world around us. Taking influence from classical portraiture, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Japanese woodblock prints, as well as public signage, information boards and traffic signs, Opie connects the clean visual language of modern life, with the fundamentals of art history.

Major museum exhibitions include Hayward Gallery and ICA, London; MAK, Vienna; Mito Tower, Japan; MoCAK, Krakow; Fosun Foundation, Shanghai and National Gallery of Victoria, Australia, as well as the Delhi Triennial, Venice Biennial and Documenta.

Public projects include City Hall Park, New York; River Vltava, Prague; Seoul Square, South Korea; The Lindo Wing, St Mary’s Hospital, London; PKZ, Zurich; Tower 535, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong; Fosun Foundation, Shanghai and Hyundai General Store, Seoul.

Public collections include Tate, British Museum, Victoria & Albert, Arts Council, British Council and National Portrait Gallery in London, MoMA New York; ICA, Boston USA; Essl Collection, Vienna; IVAM, Spain; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; National Gallery of Victoria, Australia and Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Japan.

Julian Opie images are available on request, please contact us here.