About the Exhibit
It’s kind of crazy to think this exhibit was Julian Opie’s first solo exhibition in New York City. The show took place Spring of 2019, at Lisson Gallery’s 24th street location in Chelsea, New York.
Opie is extremely recognizable for his reduction of objects to bold lines. This show in particular, “captures the people and daily routines that makeup life in communities around New York City.”
“Over the years Opie has quietly observed the homogenisation of the world in cities and the people around him – from friends to strangers on the street – to produce portraits of individuals and society. Whether recreating a skyscraper, a serene landscape on the Cornish coast, or a selection of runners in a city park, Opie constructs an environment, a space that echoes the colours and shapes he observes.” (source)
The exhibit included portraits captured through painting and sculpture. The sculptures were are titled, Pony Tail., Hoodie., Diamond earring. and Dark Glasses.
The portraits on the wall represent real people walking in neighborhoods across New York.
“Surrounded by abstracted figures, these portraits are at once distinctly individual and yet universal, recalling the anonymity omnipresent in modern city life.” (source)
About the Artist - Julian Opie
Julian Opie is a British artist who lives and works in London. He attended school at Goldsmiths, University of London.
“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.” (source)
Opie draws inspiration form “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.” (source)
Opie is also famous for his public art installations, which can be found at
Dentsu Building in Tokyo (2002)
City Hall Park in New York (2004)
Mori Building, Omotesando Hill in Japan (2006)
River Vltava in Prague (2007)
Phoenix Art Museum USA (2007)
Dublin City Gallery in Ireland (2008)
Seoul Square in South Korea (2009)
Regent's Place in London (2011)
Calgary, Canada (2012)
The Lindo Wing, St Mary's Hospital, London (2012)
...to name a few.
He also has a pretty great website you can browse here.
