Julian Opie

Julian Opie was born in London in 1958, where he lives and works.  

Julian Opie’s practice explores the reduction of photographic images into simplified, computer-generated representations. Drawing from everyday subjects—including architecture, people, animals, and landscapes—Opie uses digital processes to transform real-world situations into highly stylized visual forms. His works often begin with ordinary scenes such as a car travelling along a road or a group of buildings in an urban setting, which are stripped of their individual characteristics and reduced to recognizable signs. Through this process, Opie examines how images are perceived and understood, creating a distance between reality and representation. 

During his residency at Atelier Calder, Opie developed Driving in the Country (1996), a project comprising a series of sculptures accompanied by a publication. For Opie, these sculptures function as independent objects rather than fixed representations. Instead of presenting a final or definitive arrangement, they encourage viewers to imagine new combinations and alternative configurations in different spaces.