The Hortensia Herrero Foundation will bring the work of Julian Opie (London, 1958) to Valencia starting next 27 May. It will do so through a temporary exhibition of monumental sculptures that will be located in the heart of the city. Specifically, in the Plaza del Colegio del Patriarca and in the La Nau Cultural Centre of Universitat de València.
After a two-year hiatus since the Jaume Plensa exhibition at the The City of Arts and Sciences, the Hortensia Herrero Foundation will bring to Plaza del Colegio del Patriarca and La Nau, both in the Cloister and the Sala Acadèmia, a presentation about new and existing works by Julian Opie, transforming these spaces through animation on LED screens, light box paintings and monumental sculptures. These works, some of which will have their debut in València, focus on the human figure in movement, walking through the city, alone or in the middle of a crowd; strolling, running to catch a train or waiting in the square with arms folded.
According to Opie, “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. However, a figure in a walking position is distracted, so it can be looked at 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.”
The exhibition, which has the collaboration of the City Council of Valencia and Universitat de València, through the Vice-principal’s Office for Culture and Sports, will open on 27 May and can be seen until September.
Bringing Julian Opie’s work to the city of Valencia is a source of pride because he is, without doubt, one of the best known artists on the international scene. It is a very exciting project that will help to further increase the cultural appeal of the city. Furthermore, within the current context, we want to do our bit to reactivate cultural activity – to keep it going”, explained Hortensia Herrero, the promoter of this exhibition through the foundation that bears her name.
Julian Opie
Julian Opie was born in 1958 in London and graduated from Goldsmiths School of Art in 1983. He lives and works in London.
Thanks to the public commissions from cities such as Seoul, New York, Luxembourg and Zurich and a steady stream of major museum exhibitions internationally, Julian Opie’s work is known throughout the world. Opie’s distinctive formal language is easily recognisable and reflects his artistic preoccupation with the idea of representation and the means by which images are perceived and understood.
His major museum exhibitions have been at Kunstverein, Cologne; Hayward Gallery and ICA, London; K21, Düsseldorf; MAK, Vienna; Torre Mito, Japan; CAC, Malaga; IVAM, Valencia; MoCAK, Krakow; Tidehalle, Helsinki; Fosun Foundation, Shanghai; Suwon IPark Museum of Art, South Korea; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and Museo Berardo, Lisbon.
Opie has works in public art collections such as the Tate, British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Arts Council, British Council and National Portrait Gallery, London; MoMA, New York; ICA, Boston; Essl Collection, Vienna; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and Takamatsu City Art Museum, Japan.
