Black Headed Gull
Signed Mixed Media

This artwork is one of five pieces made by Opie in his Small Birds collection. The collection was produced to accompany his spectacular LED based public artwork which the artist installed in Melbourne, Australia in December 2020. The installation was inspired by Opie’s father who grew up in Australia and would recount stories about the wildlife he encountered there. Opie himself enjoyed bird spotting when he travelled around Australia and each artwork in the series depicts a different kind of bird.

Black Headed Gull captures the essence of Opie’s visual style which is characterised by his minimal aesthetic and use of bright and bold colours. The artist was clearly inspired by the Pop Art movement and artists such as Andy Warhol who challenged our understanding of art and sought to blur the distinction between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture. By taking everyday subjects such as birds, horses and people walking in a city and rendering them in a simple style, Opie demonstrates that ordinary and commonplace things and people are also worthy of being made into fine artworks.