The work of Julian Opie is known throughout the world. With public commissions from New York to Seoul, London to Calgary, and an uninterrupted flow of international museum exhibitions, Opie’s distinctive formal language is instantly recognizable and reflects his artistic preoccupation with the idea of representation and the means by which images are perceived and understood. “Everything you see is a trick of the light,” Opie writes. “Light bouncing into your eye, light casting shadows, creating depth, shapes, colours. Turn off the light and it’s all gone. We use vision as a means of survival and it’s essential to take it for granted in order to function, but awareness allows us to look at looking and by extension look at ourselves and be aware of our presence. Drawing, drawing out the way that process feels and works brings the awareness into the present and into the real world, the exterior world.” 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. Drawing influence from classical portraiture, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Japanese woodblock prints, as well as public signage, information boards and traffic signs, the artist connects the clean visual language of modern life, with the fundamentals of art history. Julian Opie was born in London in 1958 and lives and works in London. He graduated from Goldsmiths School of Art, London in 1982. Exhibitions have been staged at La Llotja, Palma (2024); Galleri F15, Norway (2023); Mango Museum, Changsha, China (2023); He Art Museum, Shenzen, China (2022); Pitzhanger Manor & Manor, London, UK (2021); Berardo Museum, Lisbon, Portugal (2020); Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, Japan (2019); Gerhardsen Gerner, Oslo, Norway (2019); The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2018); National Portrait Gallery, London, UK (2017); Suwon Ipark Museum of Art, Korea (2017); Fosun Foundation, Shanghai, China (2017); Fundacion Bancaja, Valencia, Spain (2017); Kunsthalle Helsinki, Finland (2015); Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow (MoCAK), Poland (2014); National Portrait Gallery, London, UK (2011); IVAM, Valencia, Spain (2010); MAK, Vienna, Austria (2008); CAC Malaga, Spain (2006); Neues Museum, Nuremberg, Germany (2003); Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2001); Kunstverein Hannover, Germany (1994) and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK (1985). Major group exhibitions include ‘LIGHT: Works from the Tate Collection’, The National Art Centre, Tokyo, Japan (2023); ‘We Change The World’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2021), ‘I Want! I Want! Art & Technology’ at Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK (2017); ‘This Is Not The Reality. What Kind Of Reality?’, 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2017); the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK (2016); Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK (2014); Tate Britain, London, UK (2013); the Shanghai Biennale (2006); 11th Biennial of Sydney (1998); documenta 8, Kassel, Germany (1987); and XIIème Biennale de Paris (1985). Public projects include 'Promenade dans le metro', Porte de Clichy Metro Station, Paris (2024); ‘Walking in Lisbon’, World Trade Centre Lisbon (2022); ‘Australian Birds’ City of Melbourne, Australia (2020); ‘Promenade’, Pacific Place, Hong Kong (2020); ’Walking in Shanghai’ Fosun Foundation, Shanghai (2019); ‘Walking in Taipei’, Taipei, Taiwan and ‘Walking in Hong Kong’, Tower 535, Hong Kong (2016); Arendt & Medernach, Luxembourg (2016); Heathrow Terminal 1 (1998); and the prison Wormwood Scrubs, London (1994); as well as public work for hospitals, such as the Lindo Wing, St. Mary’s Hospital, London (2012) and Barts & the London Hospital (2003). His design for the band Blur’s album ‘Best of Blur’ (2000) was awarded the Music Week CADS for Best Illustration in 2001.

Public Collections

Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland, UK
Albertina, Vienna, Austria
Arts Council of Great Britain, UK
Banque Bruxelles Lambert, Brussels, Belgium
Berardo Collection Museum, Portugal
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, USA
Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero
Collection Essl, Vienna, Austria
Contemporary Art Society, UK
Dentsu Building, Tokyo, Japan
Daimler Chrysler, Dresdner Bank, Berlin
David and Indre Roberts Collection
Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Boston MA
Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA
Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt, Germany
Daros Collection, Zurich, Switzerland
Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane
Elgiz Museum Collection, Turkey
Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland
Essl Collection, Vienna, Austria
Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, France
Fundacion Caja de Pensiones, Madrid, Spain
Gana Art Centre, Seoul, South Korea
Gjensidige, Oslo, Norway
ICA, Boston, USA
Institut Valencia d'Art Modern (IVAM), Spain
Kunsthalle Bern, Bern, Germany
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria
Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
Lenbachhaus Stadtische Galerie, Munich, Germany
M + Museum, West Kowloon, Hong Kong
Maison Europeene de la photographie, Paris, France
MUSAC, Leon, Spain
Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo, Norway
Museo d'Arte Contemporanea LUIGI PECCI, Prato, Italy
Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow, Poland
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Neue Galerie - Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen, Germany
Neues Museum, Nuremberg, Germany
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
Shizouka Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Taguchi Art Collection, Japan
Terrae Motus Collection, Italy
The British Council, UK
The British Museum, London, UK
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Portugal
The Government Art Collection, London, UK
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
The Portland Museum of Art, Maine, USA
Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Japan
Takamatsu City, Japan
The Somlói–Spengler Collection, Hungary
The Tate Gallery, London, UK
The Tate, Liverpool, UK
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
UBS Art Collection
Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, Connecticut, US