Contemporary Art Gallery

Julian Opie

July 19 (Sat.),2008,to October 5 (Sun.),2008

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Installation view at Contemporary Art Gallery, Art Tower Mito 　Photo:Mie Morimoto

The Contemporary Art Center at Art Tower Mito (ATM) is delighted to announce the first large-scale solo exhibition in Asia by the British contemporary artist Julian Opie.

Known especially in Japan for his series of portraits and figures with semiotic visual language ever since his early career, Opie has been creating experimental works to tackle various important issues in contemporary art, including the relationship between painting and sculpture, original and reproduction, art and design, commodity and artwork, beauty and the everyday. Absorbing important notions and formats of modern art such as conceptualism, minimalism and pop, Opie has developed his own unique style. Appropriating influences from old master's painting to street signs, Opie's style has continued to transform throughout his career. In recent years he has created works based on pictures that he himself has taken, then modifies them with his hands and by computer. As a result, the details of models and landscapes are abbreviated and simplified, with thick and round lines and vivid color; only the essence of the objects remain identifiable.

Julian Opie was born in London, United Kingdom in 1958. Within three years since graduating from Goldsmiths (University of London) in 1982, he was featured in several notable exhibitions at art museums and galleries in Europe, thereby gaining international recognition. His works have also been included in the collections of major museums, including the Tate Modern in London, MoMA in New York, and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. He also received a prize in 2001 from Music Week CADS for his cover jacket illustration for the British pop music group Blur in 2000. Recently, he has been busy creating many public art projects in Europe, the United States and Japan.

Opie's interests are not limited to Western art, but extend to Japanese art as well. He is well known as a collector of Japanese woodblock prints (ukiyoe) by Kitagawa Utamaro and Utagawa Hiroshige. In recent years, Opie has embraced the compositions and chromatic sensations of ukiyoe, transforming them into unique portraits and landscapes using contemporary devices for representation as well as computer and LED.

At the ATM Contemporary Art Center, Julian Opie will present approximately 70 recent works, covering his major motifs, including portraits, figures, animals, swimmers, dancers and landscapes. The works are made from various colors, mediums and techniques, including animated films, silkscreen and stone sculpture, animating the white cubes of the gallery spaces. Throughout his body of works, the exhibition will show the whole range of Opie's oeuvre, which was previously only introduced fragmentarily in Japan. His sculptural works and LED animations will be installed in the public space of ATM, where they will welcome passers-by.

This exhibition is one of the official events of UK-Japan 2008 , and is organized by the British Embassy and British Council on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce.


Julian Opie Official Site http://www.julianopie.com/