Julian Opie
Julian Opie (born 1958, in London[1]) is a visual artist, and one of the New British Sculpture movement.
Life and work
Julian Opie was raised in Oxford, England, where he attended the Dragon School and Magdalen College School. He then attended Chelsea College of Art and became a teacher.
He is a former trustee of the Tate Gallery.
In his portraiture, the human face is sometimes characterised by black outlines with flat areas of colour, and minimalised detail, to the extent that an eye can become just the black circle of the pupil, and sometimes a head is represented by a circle with a space where the neck would be, Opie tries to portray someone's personality in as little detail as possible. Opie uses computers in art for other works. His Imagine you are... series, demonstrated how activities such as driving, walking and climbing could be represented by simple reductions. In addition, Opie uses sculpture and light installations to present items of everyday life.
Julian Opie also implements computer technology by cutting out the outlines and coloured shapes, sometimes on vinyl, as in large display banners at Tate Britain. Opie is a former trustee of the Tate Gallery and exhibits with Lisson Gallery and Alan Cristea Gallery in London, England. His studio and workshop is based in Shoreditch, London. He was also the subject of a book by Mary Horlock published by Tate Publishing as part of their Contemporary Artist series.
Commercial projects
Julian Opie's style was brought into the public eye when he was asked to design the cover for a compilation by British band Blur, Blur: The Best Of. On the cover, the band members (clockwise from top left) Graham Coxon, Alex James, Dave Rowntree and Damon Albarn are transformed into Opie's style. Also, in 2006 and during Irish rock band, U2, Vertigo world tour, he showed another LED screen on part of stage set displaying an aimless walking man figure.[2] in 2009 Julian Opie was commissioned to design a postage stamp for the Royal Mail to mark the commencement of the 2012 Olympics; an effective vision of the aquatic sports showing a swimmer in mid - dive, in his silhouette / computer style image.
Indianapolis sculpture
Opie created a monument to singer Bryan Adams while he was in Indianapolis because he has a AM-rock, big-open-sound, low-slung-guitar feel, though when he paints women they are often more blatantly sexually charged.[3]
In 2010, the four-sided LED Sculpture Ann Dancing was installed in Indianapolis, Indiana as the first artwork on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.
Awards
- 2002 Music Week CADS, Best Illustration for "Best of Blur"
- 1995-96 Residency at the Atelier Calder in Saché.
- 1995 Sargant Fellowship at the British School in Rome
References
- ^ Sandy Nairne Art Now, p. 64
- ^ "Julian Opie: Walking on O’Connell Street" at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, e-flux, 18 January 2008.
- ^ Robert Ayers (August 31, 2006), Julian Opie, ARTINFO, retrieved 2008-04-22
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