Alex Katz and Julian Opie Meet Face to Face at Opera Gallery Miami

At a Glance

• Face to Face runs November 30 through December 23, 2026, at Opera Gallery Miami, 151 NE 41st St, Suite 131.
• The exhibition brings together paintings, sculptures and video works by Alex Katz and Julian Opie.
• Featured works include Katz's Yvonne in Green (1995) and Nikki II (2006) and Opie's The Angel 8 (2025).
• Opera Gallery will also be at Art Miami, December 1-6, at One Herald Plaza.

Opera Gallery Miami opens Face to Face on November 30, an exhibition that brings Alex Katz and Julian Opie together around one of art's most persistent subjects, the human figure. Through paintings, sculptures and video works, the show considers how each artist simplifies the figure to make it immediate and recognizable.

Both pare back descriptive detail to the elements that make a figure legible: a face, a gesture, a posture, the outline of a body. Where they part is in what remains. Katz keeps the individuality of his subjects, while Opie pushes the figure toward a more universal visual language.

Katz came of age in a New York art world dominated by Abstract Expressionism and stayed committed to figuration throughout his career. Drawing on film close-ups, fashion and advertising, his paintings are defined by flattened space, crisp contours and an economy of detail.

In Nikki II (2006), a tight crop draws the viewer into the sitter's gaze. Yvonne in Green (1995) isolates the figure against a dark ground and lets color, expression and posture carry the image. In both, less detail brings the individual into sharper focus.

Opie approaches the figure through a visual language shaped by graphic design, public signage, digital imagery and animation. Associated with the Young British Artists of the 1990s, he works in simplified lines, blocks of color and repeated forms, so his figures lose descriptive detail but stay instantly recognizable.

In Angel Couple 9 (2026), two bodies are distilled into clean graphic forms. The Angel 8 (2025) uses repetition and implied movement to suggest the rhythm of a passing figure.

Alongside the exhibition, Opera Gallery will be present at Art Miami, which runs December 1-6, 2026, at One Herald Plaza (NE 14th Street and Biscayne Bay).

Face to Face is on view November 30 through December 23 at Opera Gallery Miami, 151 NE 41st St, Suite 131. More at operagallery.com.