Julian Opie

Opie was born in Oxford in 1958 and attended the Goldsmith’s School of Art from 1979 to 1983, studying under Michael Craig Martin. Opie’s early works were free-standing architectural pieces using industrial materials like steel and found domestic objects. Later on, however, he began focusing on portraiture and developing his iconic reductive style, inspired by a variety of influences including classical portraiture, pop art, public signage and traditional Japanese woodblock prints.

Opie distils his subjects, transforming them from individuals into icons, including only a few essential details about their clothing or expression to still convey their character. This quintessential style evokes the disconnected representation of the Self in the digital age. Examples are Muliati, Shop Assistant (2002), his series of a Swiss collector Ruth such as Ruth Smoking (2006), and The Best Of (2000), depicting members of the British band Blur for their album cover.