Discover the world of Julian Opie: A new solo exhibition at Cristea Roberts Gallery
Interviews
Cristea Roberts Gallery is currently home to Julian Opie’s latest exhibition. Can you tell us what we can expect?
We’re delighted that our current solo exhibition of Julian Opie unveils new editions and prints by the artist, made over the last five years.
We’ll be showing large-scale portraits in bright colours, figures in motion, European architecture and scenic panoramas, all based on the artist’s travels and his observations of contemporary life.
As Cristea Roberts Gallery is the exclusive worldwide publisher of Julian Opie’s editions, we’re excited to share that this show brings together many new projects from the artist’s multifaceted practice, that haven’t been seen before.
Julian Opie; Dance, Synced: Dance 5. , 2024
Screenprint in 12 colours
Framed: 96 x 152 cm - 37 3/4 x 59 7/8 in
Edition of 45
Courtesy artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London © Julian Opie
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Julian’s style is exceptionally distinctive, can you give us some further detail on his practice and influences?
Opie finds his subject matter in the vocabulary and architecture of everyday life; popular comics, road signs, postcards, even clips on social media.
As well as drawing inspiration from his personal collection of art and artefacts - which includes Ancient Greek and Roman statuary, Egyptian sarcophagi, Japanese woodblocks and Old Master paintings – the artist also looks at urban and rural landscapes, as well as moving figures, to bring time-honoured artistic genres into the twenty-first century.
To make his iconic works that depict figures walking, running or dancing, Opie photographs or films his subjects in motion. He observes their movement and posture and draws each figure, stripping away detail to retain simple lines and shapes.
Julian Opie; Children Walking: Neal., 2026
Lenticular acrylic panel presented in a brushed aluminium frame specified by the artist
Framed: 73.9 x 45.7 x 2.5 cm - 29 1/8 x 18 x 1 in
Edition of 30
Courtesy artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London © Julian Opie
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To make At the Angel., 2026, a series of five prints, Opie photographed pedestrians from a traffic island in North London. Back in his studio he grouped the figures he captured, arranging them in opposing directions and carefully composing them.
Julian Opie comments: “Those I draw are looked at while they go about their business oblivious of being watched. They seem noble and even magnificent in their personal worlds striding past and disappearing forever. I felt though that something interesting was happening with these photos that were of real people but at the same time clearly of composed, unreal images. I hoped I had dragged one reality into another.”
Left: Julian Opie; At the Angel 1., 2026
Pigment print, framed in a natural oak frame specified by the artist
Framed: 94 x 96 cm - 37 x 37 3/4 in
Edition of 15
Right: Julian Opie; At the Angel 3., 2026
Pigment print framed in a natural oak frame specified by the artist
Framed: 94 x 96 cm - 37 x 37 3/4 in
Edition of 15
Courtesy artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London © Julian Opie
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Also on show, a large-scale installation of the artist’s series Everyone., begun in 2023 and continuing through to 2025, where friends, gallerists, colleagues, family members and visitors to the artist’s studio appear in almost 100 portraits. Opie approaches the vinyl portraits by reducing the sitter’s features to the bare minimum. The facial characteristics of his sitters are defined by only a few bold black lines, but within this, he retains the distinctions that make each person unique and recognisable.
Julian Opie;
Everyone: Siyu., 2023
Everyone: Julian., 2023
Everyone: David., 2023
Vinyl on white acrylic presented in wooden frames specified by the artist
Framed: 37.4 x 29.7 cm - 14 3/4 x 11 3/4 in (each)
Editions of 10
Courtesy artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London © Julian Opie
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What made Julian Opie the perfect fit for Cristea Roberts Gallery’s latest show?
Cristea Roberts Gallery first approached Opie in the late 1990s, beginning to work with the artist on print projects from the early 2000s onwards, all the way to the present day. Now our gallery is the worldwide publisher of Julian Opie’s prints. This is a long-standing, collaborative relationship centred around the artist’s editions and contemporary printmaking.
Over the years, his editions have been realised in a variety of different media including silkscreen, vinyl, LCD, LED and lenticular, or as you can see in his new series, Portuguese Towers., 2025, he has made editions with powder-coated steel, inspired by architecture. The artist is always looking for new and unconventional technologies and this solo exhibition marks another five years of artistic collaboration.
Julian Opie; Portuguese Towers 1., 2025
Powder coated steel relief
Overall: 61.6 x 29 cm - 24 1/4 x 11 3/8 in
Edition of 12
Courtesy artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London © Julian Opie
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What has been the impact of Julian’s work within the art world?
In 2001, Opie was awarded Music Week CADS, Best Illustration Award for his album cover design for Best of Blur – this collaboration is a perfect example of the close connection between the visual arts and the British music scene in the late 1990s and 2000s. It captures the subversive creativity of Opie and the YBAs (Young British Artists).
Opie currently features in a group exhibition dedicated to the YBAs at the National Art Center in Tokyo, that explores this era and the evolution of British art from 1984 to the early 2000s – so his influence in the art world is very far-reaching.
The instantly recognisable, universal language of Opie’s art means that his work is featured in museums, galleries and across many international public spaces. For example, you can see his work in the Tate, London or the Museum of Modern Art in New York, or while you’re walking on Carnaby Street, London or in a shopping centre in Tokyo.
Once you recognise Opie’s style, soon you’ll notice his work everywhere - his work is embedded within the urban fabric of cities across the world. In the meantime, come and see the exhibition of Julian Opie’s latest projects at Cristea Roberts Gallery.
Julian Opie, at Cristea Roberts Gallery, London until 22 May 2026
The exhibition is free to visit. More information below:
43 Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5JG
Tuesday - Friday: 11am - 5.30pm
Saturday: 11am - 2pm
Closed on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays
Julian Opie; Landscape 15., 2023
Inkjet, presented in a brushed aluminium frame specified by the artist
Framed: 135.1 x 5 cm - 53 1/4 x 2 x 68 3/8 in
Edition of 12
Courtesy artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London © Julian Opie
Artist biography
Julian Opie was born in London in 1958. He studied at Goldsmiths College, London, from 1979 to 1982. Opie draws inspiration from both high art, design and the vernacular; lightbox advertising, billboard signs, Japanese Manga, seventeenth and eighteenth-century portraiture, nineteenth-century silhouettes, Roman busts and ancient Egyptian art.
In 2001 Opie was awarded Music Week CADS, Best Illustration award for his album cover design for Best of Blur. Opie has presented recent exhibitions at the 19th Architectural Biennial Venice, Venice; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal; Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, UK (2025); Nanhai Art Biennale, Guangdong Province, China; La Llotja, Palma, Mallorca, Spain; Piazza del Quadrilatero, Milan, Italy (2024); Mango Museum, Changsha, China; Galleri F15, Moss, Norway (2023); PARCO Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2022); Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery, London, UK; Newlands House Gallery, Petworth, UK (2021); Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon (2020).
His work can be found in public collections worldwide including Tate, London; British Museum, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; National Portrait Gallery, London; The Institut Valencià d'Art Modern; Essl Collection, Vienna; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Japan; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston.
Cristea Roberts Gallery is the exclusive worldwide publisher of Julian Opie's editions.
Julian Opie lives and works in London.