Julian Opie. Plaza del Patriarca and La Nau. Valencia. 17 May - 19 September 2021
The Hortensia Herrero Foundation will bring a presentation of new and existing works by Julian Opie to the Plaza del Colegio del Patriarca, in the cloister and the nearby University of Valencia’s La Nau exhibition rooms, transforming them through animation on LED screens, light box paintings and monumental sculpture. These works, some of which will have their debut in Valencia, focus on the human figure as it strides through the city, alone or in a crowd; strolling, running to catch a train, or waiting in the square with folded arms. The exhibition is curated by Javier Molins.
Opie writes: “Early Greek and Egyptian statues were often built as striding figures. The implied movement gives a dynamic and grace to the figure, a sense of purpose, independence and power. A standing posed figure seems to be responding to you the viewer but a walking figure is oblivious and therefore you can look at them without confrontation. Scale is a strange thing, we read scale in relation to ourselves, elephants are big and ants are small but it can easily become inverted, solar systems can look like ping pong balls and the insides of computers like Asian cities. We have the ability to project and see from outside ourselves.”
Julian Opie was born in 1958 in London and graduated in 1983 from Goldsmiths School of Art. He lives and works in London. With public commissions from Seoul to New York, Luxembourg to Zurich and a steady flow of large museum exhibitions internationally, the work of Julian Opie is known throughout the world. Opie’s distinctive formal language is instantly recognisable and reflects his artistic preoccupation with the idea of representation, and the means by which images are perceived and understood.
Public art collections holding Opie’s works include, Tate, British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Arts Council, British Council and National Portrait Gallery in London; MoMA, New York; ICA, Boston USA; Essl Collection, Vienna; The Israel Museum in Jerusalem and Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Japan.
