Julian Opie - Digital media artist

                                                                 Julian Opie (born 1958)
Julian is a visual artist of the New British Sculpture movement. He graduated in 1982 from Goldsmith’s, London. He is known for his use of new technology, his fascination with the human form and his work across different media.
He became known when he produced a series of metal sculptures although his popularity increased after he designed the cover of Blur’s Best Of album which was released in 2000. The four part portrait was bought by the Art Fund in 2001 and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.




                                                  The Millenium Bridge, Newcastle

He is most famous for creating portraits with thick black lines using very little detail. His distinctive graphic style is to reduce the features that distinguish one person from the next to the bare minimum but still keeping them clearly recognisable. He differentiates by using different hairstyles, positions of the head, accessories, light in the eyes etc. He apparently took his inspiration from the Tintin cartoons which were drawn by Herge – button eyes, two dots as a nose, a long upper line and a shorter lower line as a mouth and two brushstrokes as eyebrows.
He is also known for his animated walking or dancing figures. Ann Dancing was created in 2007 and it was installed on the Indianopolis Cultural Trail in 2010. It is a light sculpture.



He is always looking to use the newest technology in his art. In 2012 he used 3D printing to create 2 larger than life busts, but he had to paint them by hand as the technology didn’t colour in!

His artwork has become part of popular culture and can be found on bags, buses and T-shirts. However 6 of his portraits are in the National Portrait Gallery in London and he has more than a dozen works in the Tate and his art is known and exhibited worldwide.

When asked about his art, he says he asks himself “would I like to have it in my room?” I use that criteria too when looking at art, both mine and others. I would quite to have a mug with one of his portraits on it!

                                                                Pony tail 2019 - very thick black lines so the person cant really be recognised as a specific individual.

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