Julian Opie

Julian Opie is a British artist working in sculpture, painting, animation and public art. Born in London, he graduated from Goldsmiths in 1983, where he studied with Michael Craig-Martin. His visual language reduces figures, faces and landscapes to clearly defined forms, drawing on both art history and everyday signs.

Opie has translated observed walking figures into sculptures and moving images, and used materials ranging from stone and mosaic to digital screens. His portraits of Blur’s members for their 2000 compilation album brought that approach into popular music packaging. Across these formats, recognisable individual subjects coexist with simplified, repeatable visual conventions.