Julian Opie

In this exhibition, created specifically in response to the NGV International spaces, a wide range of subjects are on view, each distilling elements of the natural, urban and figurative world to their essence. A city of skyscrapers takes over Federation Court, stretching up to the glass roof; a shoal of carp swim behind the waterfall facade; stone sheep graze in the gardens and a crowd of sculptures of people walking are caught mid stride in the lobby. People are a key focus throughout the exhibition and Opie's most recent works feature portraits and walking figures drawn straight from the streets of Melbourne. His minimal approach is rendered in painting, sculpture and film, recalling the endless human motion captured in Roman and Egyptian friezes, as well as in the famous photographic sequences by Eadweard Muybridge. In the central gallery, more than forty of the artist's moving image works - from 1993 to the present - will be on display. --Gallery website.