Drawing on the visual language of contemporary life, from computer graphics to road signs and billboards, Julian Opie creates landscapes and portraits in an instantly recognizable signature style defined by a stripped-down vocabulary of schematic lines and blocks of color. Interested in the ways reality can be represented and reflected, Opie often reduces iconic subject matter, like close-up portraits, landscapes, and the body in motion, to simple geometric forms, typically rendering faces as a series of piercing dots and lines. The artist often uses techniques like inkjet printing, LCD animation, and LED lights, reveling in the materiality of these hypermodern mediums. In 2008, Opie launched The Julian Opie Shop, an online store featuring products and multiples designed by the artist, further emphasizing his interest in the shifting boundaries between high art and the contemporary world.

Opie's work has been exhibited extensively, including solo shows at the ICA London, the Vienna Secession, and London's Hayward Gallery, and group shows at venues such as the Tate Britain, the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and the Museum of Modern Art.