theEYE: Julian Opie

Julian Opie's highly distinctive depictions of the modern world are created in an extraordinary variety of media. His bold portraits, subtle landscapes, unconventional wallpaper, playful sculptures of animals, buildings and cars, computer films and much more present simplified and iconic versions of the contemporary environment. In a richly-illustrated interview ranging from his cut-metal sculptures of the early 1980s to the cool minimalism of his cover art for the best of blur CD, Julian Opie reflects on his ways of working, on exposing art in unconventional surroundings, on his sense of the world around him, and on his use of computers which today allow him not to have to construct any of his artworks in the traditional way.