Julian Opie, born 1958, is a world renowned artist currently working in his hometown of London, England. Opie graduated from Goldsmiths’ College of Art, where he studied under Michael Craig-Martin, in 1982. Opie began his career working with painted steel sculpture and came to be associated with New British Sculpture movement alongside artists like Anish Kapoor and Tony Cragg. Since his rise to fame in the 80’s, Opie’s practice has expanded to include painting, installation, and album cover art.
Opie’s work is recognizable by its distinctive graphic style that blends elements of Pop Art and Minimalism. Opie’s figures are rendered minimally, essentializing the subject into fields of flat color delineated by thick black lines. His work often resembles the straightforwardness of signs and symbols in a bright, comic strip like palette. Opie has exhibited widely in the U.K. and internationally and his work can be found in the collections of many prominent public art institutions including the Tate, British Museum, Victoria & Albert, National Portrait Gallery in London, MoMA, ICA Boston, The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and Takamatsu City Museum of Art in Japan.