Julian Opie’s ‘People’ in SoHo, Ugo Rondinone Curates in Long Island, Javier Calleja Collaborates

Julian Opie

The lobby of a new office building, in New York’s SoHo district, has installed an artwork by Julian Opie to amplify the minimal design of its architecture. People 13, 2014, is an 11-inch by 144-inch LED, wall mounted work, of digitalized people walking.

The building’s offices, at 2 Crosby Street, are leased by such notable tenants as  French fashion designer Rick Owens and jewelry  designer Maria Tash.

Opie’s exhibit at this year’s Venice Biennale is a bit unusual. The Venice government would not allow the use of LED screen technology, so four of Opie’s aluminium sculptures are on show outside of the St. Regis, the newest luxury hotel in Venice.

Julian Opie’s work is also currently on exhibit at venues in Lausanne, Rome, and Shanghai. His work, in a variety of medium, are available at VFA.

Ugo Rondinone, Eddie Martinez and Sam Moyer

Swiss-born artist, Ugo Rondinone, currently has work on exhibit at the Venice Biennalle, and has also curated an exhibit at the Landcraft Garden in North Fork, Long Island. The exhibit at the Landcraft Garden includes his own sculptures and those of Eddie Martinez and Sam Moyer, Martinez’s wife.

Martinez is is best known for his abstract figurative and still life paintings. He began creating sculptures in 2013, using found objects that he collects on the beaches around North Fork and on the streets around his Brooklyn studio.

The works of all three artists are very different in form, style and materials. Martinez’s work is  abstract and appears almost unrestrained. Rondinone’s has a more classical feel and Moyer’s work has an architectural quality. The exhibit at Landcraft Garden will be on view from June 4 to October 29, 2022.

Javier Calleja

Spanish artist Javier Calleja said he was heavily influenced by the comics, cartoons and toys that he read and played with while growing up in Malaga in the 1970s and 1980s. His stylized large-headed and large-eyed characters have made him an international sensation, with solo museum and gallery  exhibits in Hong Kong, Greece, Germany, Tokyo, Spain, Rome and London.

Calleja’s work has been garnering prices above estimate. At a Phillips 2020 auction, his 2019 painting, No More Stories, sold for HK$4 million (about $509561 USD), well over the 300-500k estimate. He has collaborated with clothing companies, most recently with VANS, with his artwork on sneakers, tees and even planters.

Calleja’s work is currently on exhibit at Art Basel, Hong Kong, with upcoming shows in Paris, Athens, Tokyo, Shanghai and Dusseldorf.

Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Julian Opie, Ugo Rondinone, Eddie Martinez, Javier Calleja or any of the other fine art work available at VFA.