Julian Opie Statuettes

Julian Opie's distinctive reductive style draws from diverse influences, including billboards, classical portraiture and sculpture, dance, Japanese woodblocks and cartoons.

Opie's work comprises silhouettes, animations, LED animations, and simplified portraits and landscapes, such as Landscape? from 1998–99, a screenprint of trees, grass, and sky in a flat pictorial rendering that recalls a child's puzzle. Employing a variety of media and technologies to make "paintings" of his subjects, Opie distills everyday images and experiences into concise but evocative signs and pictograms.

Find Julian Opie prints, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Phi Auctions)

Figurative sculptures mix reality and imagination, with the most common muse being the human body. Animals are also inspirations for these sculptures, along with forms found in nature.

While figurative sculpture dates back over 35,000 years, the term came into popularity in the 20th century to distinguish it from abstract art. It was aligned with the Expressionist movement in that many of its artists portrayed reality but in a nonnaturalistic and emotional way. In the 1940s, Alberto Giacometti — a Swiss-born artist who was interested in African art, Cubism and Surrealism — created now-iconic representational sculptures of the human figure, and after World War II, figurative sculpture as a movement continued to flourish in Europe.

Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon were some of the leading figurative artists during this period. Artists like Jeff Koons and Maurizio Cattelan propelled the evolution of figurative sculpture into the 21st century.

Figurative sculptures can be whimsical, uncanny and beautiful. Their materials range from stone and wood to metal and delicate ceramics. Even in smaller sizes, the sculptures make bold statements. A bronze sculpture by Salvador Dalí enhances a room; a statuesque bull by Jacques Owczarek depicts strength with its broad chest while its thin legs speak of fragility. Figurative sculptures allow viewers to see what is possible when life is reimagined.

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