top of page

Julian Opie

줄리안 오피(b.1958)
Information

  Julian Opie is a contemporary British artist known for his distinctive depictions of figures, portraits, and landscapes. The highly stylized treatment Opie gives his subjects—whereby features are created by thick black outlines and filled in with solid areas of flat color—is a blend of Pop Art and Minimalism with a wholly contemporary sensibility. “The process of reading things as simulations but knowing at the same time that they are real is quite central to my work,” Opie has observed of his own art. Born in 1958 in London, United Kingdom, Opie studied with Michael-Craig Martin at Goldsmiths in London during the early 1980s. His earliest works consisted of painted steel sculptures exploring the relationship between visual and spatial observation. Over time, the artist has expanded his practice to include painting, installation, and cover art for albums. The artist’s works are part of the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and others. Opie currently lives and works in his hometown of London, United Kingdom.
 

Profile

Timeline


1958
Born in London, UK
1978–1979
Attended Chelsea School of Art, London, England
1979–1982
Attended Goldsmith’s College of Art, London, England
1983
First one-person show at the Lisson Gallery, London
1985
Exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
1993
Major retrospective of his work at the Hayward Gallery, London
1994
Wormwood Scrubs, Perimeter Wall Paintings, Commissioned by HMP Wormwood Scrubs
1995
Awarded the Sargent Fellowship at The British School in Rome
1995–1996
Residency at the Atelier Calder in Sache, France
1997
Imagine you are moving. Commissioned and Funded by BAA Plc as part of the BAA Ar Programme in association with the Public Art Development Trust
2001
Music Week CADS, Best Illustration for Best of Blur
Lives and works in London, England

 

Exhibitions


2013
Krobath Gallery, Vienna, Austria (solo)
City of London, UK, Great St Helen' Sculpture Space (solo)
Gerhardsen Gerner, Oslo,Norway (solo)
Alan Cristea Gallery, UK (solo)
Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, UK, touring exhibition (solo)
Iniva London and Tate Liverpool, UK, touring exhibition (solo)
Patick De Brock, Belgium (solo)
Compton Verney, UK (solo)
Looking at the View, Tate Britain, London, UK
2012–2013
Pop Art Accrochage, Fluegel-Roncak Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany
Looking at the View - Tate Britain, London (England)
2012
Sakshi Gallery, Dehli, India (solo)
Lisson Gallery, London, UK (solo)
The Gallery Collection, Bob van Orsouw, Zürich, Switzerland
"Der Blick, das Wort, die Geste" ("The look, the word, the gesture" - works from the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein Collection), RLB Kunstbrücke Innsbruck, Austria
"Schau mir in die Aug...", Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein
"Spotlights Video Art", Essl Museum, Vienna, Austria
2011
Modern British Sculpture, Royal Academy, London, UK
CAMERA VIVANT, AD Projects at Central Utah Arts Center, Ephraim, UT
Moving Portraits, De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill an Sea, UK
Bob van Orsouw, Zürich, Switzerland (solo)
Krobath, Berlin, Germany (solo)
Alan Cristea Gallery, London, England (exh cat) (solo)
Watch Me Move: The Animation Show, Barbican Art Gallery, London, England
Rugby Collection 2011, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Rugby, UK
Observadores, Museu Colleccao Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal
Fast Forward: British Contemporary Art in Brazil, Brazilian British Centre Galleries, Pinheiros, Brazil
DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture, Tate Liverpool, UK
Was ist schön?, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden, Germany
21st Century: Art in the first Decade, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Australia
2010
Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA (solo)
Mario Sequeira, Braga, Portugal (solo)
IVAM, Valencia, Spain (solo)
Galerist, Istanbul, Turkey (solo)
Eleven, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, England
The Rhythm of Istanbul, Akbank Sanat, Istanbul, Turkey
Sea Fever: From Turner to Today, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southamptom, UK
Pictures about Pictures, MUMOK, Vienna, Austria
From Here to There: Contemporary Work from the Arts Council Collection, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, UK
Realism – The Adventure of Reality, Kunsthalle Emden, Germany
2009
Boule to Braid, curated by Richard Wentworth, Lisson Gallery, London, England
Citygarden, Saint Louis, MO
Wham – Painting and Beyond, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
Lisson presents 2, Lisson Gallery, London, England
Dancing in Kivik, Kivik Art Centre, Osterlen, Sweden (solo)
Valentina Bonomo, Rome, Italy (solo)
Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea (solo)
Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India (solo)
SCAI THE BATHHOUSE, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
Patrick De Brock, Knokke, Belgium (solo)
Transparency, National Theatre, Prague, Czech Republic (group)
2008
Lisson Gallery, London, England (solo)
Alan Cristea Gallery, London, England (solo)
Krobath Wimmer, Vienna, Austria (solo)
Art Tower Mito, Japan (solo)
The prospect 27, Roche Court Sculpture Park, Salisbury, UK (group)
Still / Motion", Mie Prefecture Museum, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan (group)
Recent works, MAK Vienna, Austria
2007
Passion for Art, Sammlung Essl, Vienna, Austria
Group Show II, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA
Walk on the Vltava, Museum Kampa, Prague, Czech Republic (solo)
This is Shahnoza, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany (solo)
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA (solo)
Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA(solo)
Julian Opie in the 90‘s, King‘s Lynn art centre, Norfolk, UK (solo)
SIGNS, outdoor exhibition organized by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (solo)
Show Time, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain
2006
Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China
Auto Nom Kasel, Germany
Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK (solo)
Likeness: Portraits of Artists by Other Artists, touring: California College of Arts, Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA; McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC; ICA Boston, MA; Dalhousie University Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; University Art Museum, California State University at Long Beach; Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art & Design, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2005
Gallery Mario Sequeira, Braga, Portugal (solo)
La Chocolateria, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (solo)
Scai the Bathhouse, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
ICA, Boston, MA (solo)
Gallery MGM, Oslo, Norway (solo)
Gallery Valentina Bonomo, Rome, Italy (solo)
2004
Bearings: Landscapes from the IMMA Collection, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
The Tower Block, vertical architecture, Clifford Chance, Canary Wharf, London, UK
Porträt ohne Antlitz, (Face without features) Kunsthalle Kiel, Germany (exh. cat.)
Funny Cuts; cartoons and comics in contemporary art, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany
People, Mimmo Scognamiglio, Naples, Italy
Summer Exhibiton, Royal Academy of Art, London, UK
Animals, buildings, cars and people, curated by Tom Eccles, Public Art Fund, City hall Park, New York City, USA (solo)
Sara, Bryan & Monique, Lisson Gallery, London, UK (solo)
Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden (solo)
Kunsthandlung H. Krobath & B. Wimmer, Vienna, Austria (solo)
Patrick de Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium (solo)
Barbara Thumm Galerie, Berlin, Germany (solo)
MCA Chicago, IL (solo)
2003
Saved, 100 Years of the National Art Collections Fund, Hayward Gallery, London, UK (exh. cat.)
Lenbachhaus Kunstbau, Munich, Germany
Arcadia; the other life of video games, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Zealand
Addiction, curated by Christopher Kul-Want, 15 Micamber Street, London, UK
Bienal de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
No Art-No City - City Utopias in Contemporary Art. Städtische Galerie im Buntentor, Bremen, Germany (exh. cat.)
Auto-nom, das Automobil in der Zeitgenössischen Kunst, NRW Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft, Düsseldorf, Germany (exh. cat.)
Urban Codes - Coder/De' coder, espace de l'art concret, Château de Mouans, Mouans-Sartoux, France (exh. cat.)
Trickfilm, André Buchmann Galerie, Cologne, Germany
Robert Mc Lain Gallery, Houston, TX
MART - Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Italy (exh. cat.)
Galerie Bob Van Orsouw, Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
K21 Düsseldorf, Germany (solo)
Neues Museum Nurnberg, Nuremberg, Germany (solo)
Alan Cristea Gallery, London, UK (solo)
2002
Rebecca Camhi Gallery, Athens, Greece (solo)
Mario Sequeira Gallery, Porto, Portugal (solo)
Berlin Classics, an installation in the courtyard of the gallery in collaboration with Caroline Raspé, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany (solo)
Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA (solo)
2001
Lisson Gallery, London, UK (exh. cat./ solo)
1983
Lisson Gallery, London, UK (solo)
1982
Sculpture for a Garden, (Hounslow Sculpture II), Gunnersbury Park, London, UK

bottom of page