Julian Opie Deconstruction

JULIAN OPIE DECONSTRUCTION

Julian Opie is a contemporary English artist, born 1958 in London and raised in Oxford. He is a graduate of Goldsmiths College and achieved some early gallery success in 1983. This was an incentive for slightly younger artists from the same college such as Damien Hurst.

His highly stylised work involves the reduction of photographs into figurative reproductions, generally created using computer software. In his portraitures the human face is characterised by solid black outlines with flat areas of colour, with minimalised detail to the extent that an eye can become just a black circle from the pupil. This is also shown is some designs where the head is represented by a circle with a space where the neck would be. Opie tries to portray someone's personality in as little detail as possible; by using computers an artist can easily experiment with different effects and colours by the click of a mouse. This can be seen as light hearted work and not being very difficult or artistic as it takes out most of the artistic skill that we as consumers look for, some critics don't believe in his style being art at all, but it is a form of expression and design. Opie tries to present the complexities of the human form by reducing it to its mere basics.

His Imagine you are... series, demonstrated how activities such as driving, walking and climbing could be represented by simple reductions. In addition, Opie uses sculpture and light installations to present items of everyday life. Opie's style was first brought into the public eye when he was asked to design the cover for a compilation by British band Blur. The simplicity of the cover appealed to the audience and it is therefore very memorable to those who have seen the work piece. He also implements computer technology by cutting the outlines and coloured shapes, sometimes on vinyl, as in large display banners at Tate Britain.

Opie is a former trustee of the Tate Gallery and exhibits with The Lisson and Alan Cristea Gallery in London, England. His studio and workshop is based in Shoreditch, London were he can be found most of the time working to produce pieces for his latest collection. Lastly he was also the subject of a book by Mary Horlock published by Tate Publishing as part of their Contemporary Artist series.