Introduction

What “Livability” Means to Julian Opie

I live in London mainly because I was born here and have set up a life here.
I never really managed to escape. Family, schools, studio and most of the factories I use are here. I have a holiday home in the countryside which makes living in London more bearable. I love the energy of London and its multi-layered history. I like the horizontal living-terraced houses and their black cast iron railings, small moody parks with stone paths and autumn leaves. I like to visit the old villages (now part of London) that sit on hills looking down on the City and the West End.
I like to dive into the tourist filled centre near the river, full of monuments and reminders of different eras, from Roman through medieval and empire to the offices of now. The endless sprawl of suburbs in every direction are, in many ways, the real London. They can be pretty tough and run down in parts and genteel, Sunday afternoon sleepy and dormitory-like dull in others. I hate the weather except for perhaps three months of the year. London is ordinary for me, like drinking tap water. It’s great to work in, people move fast and get things done. London feels central somehow and if you are interested in anything you can probably follow your interests here, music, film, art, whatever. When I’ve been away I find London rich and cosy, energetic and human to return to, it feels like me and it feels like home but I’d rather be somewhere else much of the time!

Julian. (2012)
©Julian Opie

Born in 1958 in London, Julian Opie still calls London home. He holds a place among the most renowned contemporary British artists. Graduating from Goldsmiths School of Art, he developed a style of figurative work, portraiture and landscapes comprising minimal line and shape through a variety of media, including painting, sculpture and animation. His work can be found in the collections of museums including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The British Museum and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. For the piece on the cover of this issue, Opie photographed pedestrians on the street outside his East London studio and assembled them into a crowd.
The editorial team selected this work because of how it blends the image of a bustling urban crowd with this issue’s theme of “Livable Cities“.