Julian Opie's name is evocative of starkly contoured figures and iconic portraiture, oft mimicked in the 1990s and Noughties. But the Wallpaper* Design Awards judge's latest opus is a subtle, pastoral departure from his usual MO.
This time he's taken inspiration not from the London streets or the cultural figures who have imbued his art with historic significance, but from a stroll through a bleak winter landscape in France. Where exactly in France we're unsure, but Opie leads us through his circuitous loop like an electronic street viewer: pivoting here and there to focus on the clear path ahead.
Opie captures each stage on the walk in a single digital print, coloured in a palette resembling army camouflage. The prints are laminated to a glass façade and presented in a grid on four walls of the Alan Cristea Gallery, in London's Mayfair. With 75 images in all, the viewer feels cocooned in that French landscape. The nose grows cold just contemplating the scene.
This 'Winter' series of all-new editions is a spin-off of Opie's recent computer-animated film of the same name, shown last summer at the Lisson Gallery. That film, a similar series of austere winter landscapes, has also made it into the current show and is on display in Cristea's adjacent gallery - next to a piece by Michael Craig-Martin, a mentor and former instructor of Opie's at Goldsmith's College.
The film's score by Paul Englishby, with vocals by Opie's wife Aniela, is piped into both galleries for the length of the show.
'Winter 32.' by Julian Opie, 2012, from a series of 75 digital prints laminated to glass and mounted to Plexiglas.
The 'Winter' series of all-new editions is a spin-off of Opie's recent computer-animated film of the same name, on show in Alan Cristea's adjacent gallery on Cork Street. © Julian Opie. Courtesy of the artist and Alan Cristea Gallery, London
Opie captures each stage on the walk in a single digital print, coloured in a palette resembling army camouflage. The prints are presented in a grid on four walls of the Alan Cristea Gallery.
'Winter 39.' by Julian Opie, 2012.
'Winter 68.' by Julian Opie, 2012.
ADDRESS
Alan Cristea Gallery
34 Cork Street
London
-
Bang & Olufsen Reloved brings expertly refurbished tech to design-loving audiophilesBang & Olufsen’s new Reloved initiative expands the company’s focus on quality, circularity and sustainability
-
Unseen works meet immersive showstoppers as Yayoi Kusama hits SwitzerlandAt the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, there are 300 works by Kusama to discover and it’s delightfully discombobulating
-
RIBA launches new awards – and for the first winners, we look to the Middle EastThe RIBA Middle East Award winners are announced today. The first of the organisation's two new territory awards series honours a women-only mosque, a luxury hotel, a city park and more
-
Joy Gregory subverts beauty standards with her new exhibition at Whitechapel GalleryUnrealistic beauty standards hide ugly realities in 'Joy Gregory: Catching Flies with Honey '
-
Viewers are cast as voyeurs in Tai Shani’s crimson-hued London exhibitionBritish artist Tai Shani creates mystical other worlds through sculpture, performance and film. Step inside at Gathering
-
Who are the nine standout artists that shaped Frieze London 2025?Amid the hectic Frieze London schedule, many artists were showcasing extraordinary work this year. Here are our favourites
-
Chantal Joffe paints the truth of memory and motherhood in a new London showA profound chronicler of the intimacies of the female experience, Chantal Joffe explores the elemental truth of family dynamics for a new exhibition at Victoria Miro
-
Leo Costelloe turns the kitchen into a site of fantasy and uneaseFor Frieze week, Costelloe transforms everyday domesticity into something intimate, surreal and faintly haunted at The Shop at Sadie Coles
-
Can surrealism be erotic? Yes if women can reclaim their power, says a London exhibition‘Unveiled Desires: Fetish & The Erotic in Surrealism, 1924–Today’ at London’s Richard Saltoun gallery examines the role of desire in the avant-garde movement
-
Tiffany & Co’s artist mentorship at Frieze London puts creative exchange centre stageAt Frieze London 2025, Tiffany & Co partners with the fair’s Artist-to-Artist initiative, expanding its reach and reaffirming the value of mentorship within the global art community
-
‘It is about ensuring Africa is no longer on the periphery’: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in LondonThe 13th edition of 1-54 London will be held at London’s Somerset House from 16-19 October; we meet founder Touria El Glaoui to chart the fair's rising influence
