cowbells tractor silence

Julian Opie (1958 - )

Lambda print laminated to acrylic sheet

2000

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  • About the work

    This print is one of a series of eight that the artist, Julian Opie produced on photographic paper. The images were produced by digitally manipulating the photographs he took of these scenes, often by emptying the images of detail and blocking in areas of flat colour. The image titles are simple lists of three sounds that Opie heard at the time he took the photographs. Opie’s work at the turn of the century often simulates the landscape of computer games, a relatively new genre at that time, or children’s books. He creates, in these works, a symbolic and de-personalised landscape based on a real one, offering his viewers a familiar, yet also an alien world to interact with and create their own journey within. 


    Opie has often talked about ideas of commodification and of offering a product to his viewers to tailor to their own experience. While these landscapes of Opie’s offer a visual experience in the scene they portray, they also rely on the verbal through the list of sounds that they communicate, encouraging the viewer to bring both elements together in a way that resonates with their own experiences. Opie once said: ‘what I would really like to do is to make a painting and then walk into it.’ He expanded on this later on stating: ‘ I think my work is about trying to be happy. I want the world to seem like the kind of place you’d want to escape into. Mundane things are just as exciting as all the things you might imagine escaping into.’  


  • About the artist
    Julian Opie was born in London where he still lives and works. He studied at Goldsmiths College, London from 1979 to 1982. He has received many commissions for his work: in 2000 he produced portraits of the pop band Blur for their album. He has exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally over the last four decades and his work is held in many important collections including Tate, Arts Council Collection and the National Portrait Gallery in the UK.
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  • Details
    Title
    cowbells tractor silence
    Edition
    29/40
    Date
    2000
    Medium
    Lambda print laminated to acrylic sheet
    Dimensions
    height: 74.00 cm, width: 110.00 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Alan Cristea Gallery, January 2001
    Inscription
    verso: Julian Opie / 29/40
    Provenance
    Alan Cristea Gallery, London
    GAC number
    17532