Julian Opie, born December 12, 1958, in London, is a British contemporary artist. His workshop is located in London in the Shoreditch district. Julian Opie grew up in Oxford. He was educated at the Dragon School and Magdalen College School in Oxford then, he graduated from Goldsmiths College (1979–1982). His early success with galleries inspired younger artists like Damien Hirst to follow suit.

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His work, inspired in part by Patrick Caulfield and Michael Craig-Martin, involves the reduction of photographs into figurative reproductions (computer). In his portraits, the face is characterized by broad black lines, flat areas of colour and minimal details that reduce the eye to the black circle of the pupil.

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His “Imagine you are…” series shows how activities like driving, walking, or climbing can be represented by simple reductions. Opie also uses sculptures and light installations to represent everyday objects.

 

The public discovered Julian Opie's style in 2000 thanks to his cover for Blur's "The Best Of" album, and during the Vertigo world tour of the Irish rock band U2, where he created visuals of walking characters, projected on the giant screens of the stage.

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The treatment of his very figured subjects with his flat areas of colour with large black outlines is a mixture of Pop art and contemporary minimalist art. “Reading things as simulations while knowing they are real is central to my work,” he says of his art.

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His first works are steel sculptures. Over time, the artist expanded his range of work and became interested in painting, installations and films. His works are part of the collections of MoMA in New York, the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Stedelijik Museum in Amsterdam, among others.

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