In Britain, each person holds a unique interpretation and perspective on the subject of fashion and art.  Beauty and innovation can be found everywhere along the streets of London. The upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games not only mark a sport event with a global significance, but also a window to the long standing history and humanistic spirit of Great Britain.

Starting with the YBA of the 1990s

Julian Opie was born in London in 1958 and graduated from Goldsmith's School of Art.  He is one of the British contemporary artists that comprise YBA(Young British Artists). His works span a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, installation art, and photography. With urban life as the creative theme, most of Opie’s works narrate the interaction between space and daily situations.  Opie’s collaboration with renowned bands, such as Blur and U2, in which he designed album covers and concert stages marked the beginning of contemporary art’s foray into the field of Pop music. His works are often featured as public art across the world and collected by major museums, such as Britain’s Tate Museum, New York’s MOMA, Osaka’s National Museum of Art, and more.

Contemporary Portraits as an Artistic Language

Opie’s contemporary portraits break from the traditions of classical portraits.  In traditional portraits, artists capture realistic details that express the social status and wealth of their subjects.  Opie’s works are greatly influenced by advertising banners, 18th century portraits, popular comics, and Japanese woodblock prints.  His creative process often begins with photographing people, landscapes, or still life objects. By using advanced computer graphic technologies, these images are digitized and reduced to their basic contours. This process defines the artistic character of Opie’s style.

Finding new forms from within tradition, Opie’s abstract, geometric works are expressions of complex images reduced to their fundamental elements and composed with a minimalistic graphic style.  Using various media and techniques to create “paintings,” Opie brings us a unique visual experience that is made possible by modern technology.

The Tension Within Abstract Scenery

Nicolas de Staël (1914 to 1955) painted objects with various blocks of colors to construct a realistic space within his landscape paintings, and uses changes in color to form a sense of perspective and a depth of field.  For this exhibition’s LCD artwork series, Opie uses computer animations to display scenery captured from the window view of his bedroom.  Details of objects are reduced to compositions composed of different block surfaces, presenting scenes of dynamic landscapes.