Julian Opie (British, b. 1958) is renowned for distilling figures and urban landscapes into simplified lines, colours, and forms, reinterpreting scenes from everyday life through his distinctive visual language. By stripping away facial details and complex backgrounds, he transforms his subjects into iconic, immediately legible images. Rather than emphasising the individuality of a specific subject, Opie’s visual language invites viewers to project their own experiences and identities onto the figures in his works. As a result, his figures move beyond individual portraiture, coming to embody both the anonymity of urban crowds and reflections of ourselves.
Installed in the outdoor space of Ulsan Art Museum, Other People and 100 People extend Opie’s artistic practice into the spatial realm. The vertical LED tower and the horizontally expanded media screen create a compelling contrast through their differing structures and modes of movement, while the recurring figures generate the rhythmic visual flow characteristic of Opie’s work.
