COLLECTION+ JUDITH ALEXANDROVICS & JULIAN OPIE

Opie’s work observes everyday people moving through space, tracing passers-by and the myriad possibilities they represent. Black outlines are interspersed with notable features and embellishments of the figures; shopping bags, tattoos, earphones and hoodies. These characters are like hieroglyphs on the horizontal image plane. The symbols of the crowd and individual become easily recognisable. By reducing line and form, Opie captures a contemporary frieze of urban society, akin to Alexandrovics’ paintings and prints from the 1970s.

City Walkers is a large-scale sculptural work developed for Opie’s solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, 2018, a smaller installation of the work features in this exhibition. By employing a local Melbourne photographer, Opie was able to develop his walkers from hundreds of people documented on the street.

‘Some sixty drawings later I have a pallet of characters and have been using them in a range of paintings and statues...By making groups of six walkers I get a street crowd and a list and a kind of fashion parade.’4

Opie’s landscapes are reduced to their essential, representational colours. Opie has described his aim as ‘realism but not in the sense of photographic detail, more the realism of a glance or a memory, or the feeling of being immersed all day in a view.’5

His landscapes, particularly those depicting movement, evoke early first-person videogames or navigational system graphics.

Installation view (l-r)

Julian Opie

Imagine you are driving., Landscape?, Cars?

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with assistance from the Margaret Stones Fund for International Prints and Drawings, 2004

5. Ibid.

Installation view at MPRG

Julian Opie City Walkers, 2018 (detail) anodised aluminium National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with funds donated by Michael and Emily Tong, and NGV Foundation, 2020

In the 1970s Judith Alexandrovics completed several successful series of etchings. These etchings informed many of her larger paintings. The artworks selected in this exhibition are from her series ‘Commuters’, ‘Follies of Man’ and ‘Good Government’. These works focused on people in the urban environment as well as depictions of collective activism and protest.

Judith printed her own etchings at her family home in Melbourne. Her daughter Belinda fondly recalls their laundry with its dual purpose as a print studio. When selecting the works for the exhibition, we found the remaining etchings were printed on a variety of paper stock, with some in fair condition, embodying their DIY origins. In addition to the prints, the family estate had kept many of the original zinc etching plates in working condition.

By posthumously reprinting Alexandrovics’ work, we have aimed to represent a close to complete series of her etchings in high quality paper and ink. With permission from the family estate, we commissioned Trent Walter from Negative Press to restrike her etchings. Trent spent time studying the original prints to inform his printing of the plates.

Describing the process, Trent says ‘The plates were slowly polished by hand wiping and printing, yielding clearer impressions with every inking. It has been a wonderful way to get to know Judith’s work.’

During the process Trent tried to stay as true to Judith’s printing style as possible, as well as making aesthetic judgements when needed to bring these historic prints to life.

Left:

Judith Alexandrovics a selection of the artist’s original etching plates from the 1970s Courtesy of the artist’s estate

Below: Judith Alexandrovics

A Person 1975 aquatint on heavy wove paper, open edition Gift of the artist, 1975

Julian Opie

Walking in the rain, Seoul, 2015 colour screenprint ed. 11/50

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with funds donated by Ruth Houghton with the assistance of NGV Foundation Patrons and the Yvonne Pettengell Bequest, 2015

List Of Works

Judith ALEXANDROVICS b. Melbourne, Australia 1938 d. Melbourne, Australia 2020

Commuters 1990 acrylic on canvas

Collection of the artist’s estate

Discord 1974 acrylic on canvas

Collection of the artist’s estate

Balance 1974 acrylic on canvas

Collection of the artist’s estate

Cliff Hangers 1974 acrylic on canvas

Collection of the artist’s estate

People are Individuals 1975 aquatint on cardboard, open edition

Gift of the artist, 1975

People are Individuals 1975 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (open edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Collection of the artist’s estate

A Person 1975 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Mother and Child c.1974 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Cliff Hangers 1974 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Untitled 1974 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Follies Of Man 1974 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Untitled study (Women’s rights) 1974 acrylic on paper

Collection of the artist’s estate

Good Government (Burke Street) 1974 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Men at Work (Jesus Saves) 1974 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Terminus I 1979 aquatint on BFK Rives paper edition of 20; reprinted 2022, 1/4

Terminus II 1979 aquatint edition 1/20, Collection of the artist’s estate

Spectators Folly c.1974 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Vive La Socialism 1979 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Untitled c.1979 aquatint edition 1 of 20

Collection of the artist’s estate

Untitled c.1979 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Untitled c.1979 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Untitled c.1975 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Untitled c.1979 aquatint on BFK Rives paper (unnumbered edition); reprinted 2022, 1/4

Julian OPIE b. London, England 1958

Lives and works in London, United Kingdom

Cityscape? 1998-99 screenprint ed. 3/10

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with assistance from the Margaret Stones Fund for International Prints and Drawings, 2004

Walking in the rain, Seoul 2015 colour screenprint ed. 11/50

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with funds donated by Ruth Houghton with the assistance of NGV Foundation Patrons and the Yvonne Pettengell Bequest, 2015

Walking in the rain, London 2015 colour screenprint ed. 11/50

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Purchased with funds donated by Ruth Houghton with the assistance of NGV Foundation Patrons and the Yvonne Pettengell Bequest, 2015

Cars? 1998-99 colour screenprint, artist’s proof 3/10

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with assistance from the Margaret Stones Fund for International Prints and Drawings, 2004

Landscape? 1998-1999 colour screenprint ed. 3/10

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with assistance from the Margaret Stones Fund for International Prints and Drawings, 2004

Imagine you are driving 1998-1999 colour screenprint ed. 3/10

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with assistance from the Margaret Stones Fund for International Prints and Drawings, 2004

City Walkers 2018 anodised aluminium National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with funds donated by Michael and Emily Tong, and NGV Foundation, 2020

Train to Busan 2018 animation, Exhibition copy courtesy of the artist

Night Train 2017 animation, Exhibition copy courtesy of the artist

Julian Opie was born in London and graduated from Goldsmiths School of Art in 1983. He lives and works in London.

Opie’s distinctive formal language is instantly recognisable and reflects his artistic preoccupation with the idea of representation, and the means by which images are perceived and understood.

Always exploring different techniques, both cutting edge and ancient, Opie plays with ways of seeing through reinterpreting the vocabulary of everyday life; his reductive style evokes both a visual and spatial experience of the world around us. Taking influence from classical portraiture, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Japanese woodblock prints, as well as public signage, information boards and traffic signs, Opie connects the clean visual language of modern life, with the fundamentals of art history.

Public collections include Tate, British Museum, Victoria & Albert, Arts Council, British Council and National Portrait Gallery in London, MoMA New York; ICA, Boston USA; Essl Collection, Vienna; IVAM, Spain; Berardo Collection Museum, Lisbon; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; National Gallery of Victoria, Australia and Takamatsu City Museum of Art, Japan. www.julianopie.com

Born in Melbourne in 1938, Judith Alexandrovics studied Fine Arts at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology from 1971. Alexandrovics undertook a number of study tours; to Europe in 1979 and 1981 and to New York, USA in 1981. Judith exhibited in Australia since 1972 and in London in 1981. Following her studies, Alexandrovics pursued a creative practice in painting and printmaking.

Frequent themes in Alexandrovics work included commuters, Melbourne, terrorism, anarchy, ideological folly and the human condition.

Judith had success as a script writer, winning awards for her film The Coloured Pencils. She also worked as a teacher at Swinburne Senior Secondary College. Her work has been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Gallery in Canberra, Parliament House Canberra, as well as university, regional and private collections nationwide.