Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn

by Julian Opie
C-type colour print on paper laid on panel, 2000
34 1/8 in. x 29 7/8 in. (868 mm x 758 mm)
Given by The Art Fund, 2001
Primary Collection
NPG 6593(1)

Sitter

Damon Albarn (1968-), Singer; member of Blur; member of Gorillaz. Sitter in 4 portraits.

Artist

Julian Opie (1958-), Artist. Artist of 5 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

This Portrait

Alex James, Damon Albarn, Dave Rowntree and Graham Coxton formed the band Blur in 1989. Both Alex James and Graham Coxon were art students at Goldsmith's College, London and have maintained contact with their fellow YBA artists. Their chart-topping album Parklife (1994) announced the band's leading position in the BritPop movement and in 1995 Blur won five Brit awards. Further albums The Great Escape (1995), Blur (1997), 13 (1999) and Blur: the best of (2000) followed. Opie's portraits were commissioned for the cover of Blur: the best of. He created the 'digital drawings' by sketching onto photographs of the band. The prints shown here were made in three sizes of which this is the 'medium'. The 'small' set belongs to the band.

Linked Publications

Howgate, Sarah and Nairne, Sandy, A Guide to Contemporary Portraits, 2009, p. 46
Nairne, Sandy; Howgate, Sarah, The Portrait Now, 2006, p. 76

Portrait Set

Blur: prints by Julian Opie, 2000