Charles. Jiwon. Nethaneel. Elena.

Julian Opie

04 View the Map

About the Artwork

‘At a formal dinner in China I found myself looking at the amazing array of faces around the table and, on a whim asked them all to pose against the back wall of the dining room, including the waitress. I found myself using a very reduced language to capture both the sameness and individuality of each face. I imposed a strict vertical symmetry (except for the hair) and transferred a set of around 20 marks from one face to the next making slight changes to match each sitter. The result seems to echo traditional portraiture, silhouette or cartoon likenesses and more brutal face recognition technology, emojis and commercial logos. In an attempt to distil these references, I chose to cast the portraits as if they were something like a public monument, a motorway crash barrier and maybe even a tomb stone.’

Julian Opie, 2024

Year: 2024


Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery, London.

Material

Concrete

Dimensions

264.4 x 194.8 x 80 cm each

Artist Biography

Julian Opie

Julian Opie was born in London and studied at Goldsmiths School of Art. He lives and works in London. Opie’s distinctive formal language is instantly recognisable and reflects his interest in how images are perceived and understood. Influenced by classical portraiture, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Japanese woodblock prints, as well as public information boards and traffic signs, Opie connects the clean visual language of modern life with the fundamentals of art history. Major museum exhibitions include Hayward Gallery and ICA, London; MAK, Vienna; Mito Tower, Japan; Fosun Foundation, Shanghai; National Gallery of Victoria, Australia; Museu Berardo, Lisbon as well as the Delhi Triennial, Venice Biennial and Documenta. Public projects include City Hall Park, New York; Seoul Square, South Korea; Carnaby Street, London; Fosun Foundation, Shanghai and City of Melbourne, Australia. Public collections include Tate, British Museum and NPG in London; MoMA New York; IVAM, Spain and Wuhan Art Museum, China.