Tourist With Child
Tourist With Child
Signed Print
Julian Opie
Price data unavailable
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
There aren't enough data points on this work for a comprehensive result. Please speak to a specialist by making an enquiry.
Medium: Screenprint
Edition size: 20
Year: 2014
Size: H 88cm x W 63cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
TradingFloor
Track this artwork in realtime
Watch artwork, manage valuations, track your portfolio and return against your collection
Track auction value trend
Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2016 | Phillips New York | United States |
Meaning & Analysis
Tourist With Child is a screen print from Julian Opie’s Tourists series (2014) that features a portrait of a man holding his child. Opie created this series from a selection of photographs taken on a family day out to the South Bank in London where there are always crowds of different people. Using these photographs, Opie simplifies the shapes and flattens the colours to anonymise the sitters and create an abstracted image.
Rendered as three-quarter length portraits, Opie’s Tourists series is reminiscent of old master paintings in the traditional poses of the figures. Opie however makes these otherwise traditional portraits casual and modern through his use of subject matter and flattened, bright colour.
This print provokes a sense of familiarity within the viewer in that this is a stereotypical image of a tourist in London and the sitter’s anonymity allows for endless interpretations from the viewer. Opie explains why he enjoys depicting familiar scenes stating, "Art often focuses on the bizarre and tried to get past what is normal, to undermine and confound, which is great but I like to deal with what is normal, what is engraved on the back of our eyes and brain, what we use to navigate, what we know, what makes up the palettes of the experienced world."
Julian Opie, born in 1958, dances through the contemporary art scene with a distinctive digital allure. A trailblazer of the 1980s New British Sculpture movement, Opie's work is a highly stylised blend of Pop Art and minimalism which navigates the intersection of technology and visual expression. From his early experiments with computer-generated art to his iconic portraits and animated installations, Opie's work exudes a captivating simplicity. His signature style, marked by bold lines and reduced forms, is internationally recognisable and has made him a key player in British contemporary art.
