MASTERPIECE

online 24 to 27 june 2021

LONDON
Opera Gallery is pleased to participate in the online edition of the 2021 Masterpiece London and to present works by leading artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. From Modern artists and innovators of postwar art – including Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Alexander Calder, Jean Dubuffet, Karel Appel to contemporary artists such as Pierre Soulages, Fernando Botero, Sam Francis, Keith Haring, Manolo Valdés, Mel Bochner, Julian Opie and Kenny Scharf, the viewing room showcases an exceptional selection of paintings, works on paper and sculptures bridging contrasting approaches and styles.

Marc Chagall

Bouquet Printanier dans l’Atelier de Saint-Paul
1970
Oil and gouache on canvas
112 x 84 cm


If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing
-Marc Chagall

Andre Brasilier

Cavalcade dans les vagues
2020
Oil on canvas
89 x 130 cm


Andre Brasilier

Escale sous la neige à Loupeigne
2017
Oil on canvas
130 x 81 cm


Horses have always been a model for me, they represent life and freedom.
-Andre Brasilier

Fernando Botero

Woman on a horse
2010
Bronze
120 x 80 x 56 cm


Fernando Botero

Couple Drinking
2011
Pencil and watercolor on canvas
98 x 132 cm


Art should be an oasis: a place or refuge from the hardness of life
-Fernando Botero

Manolo Valdes

Amarillo y Rojo
2020
Oil on burlap
165.1 x 139.7 cm


Manolo Valdes

Infanta Margarita
2018
Bronze
130 x 107 cm


Art of each era always gathers elements from the past; Art is a succession and an eternal addition.
-Manolo Valdes

Karel Appel

Untitled
1956
Oil on canvas
65 x 50 cm


If I paint like a barbarian, it's because we live in a barbarous age
-Karel Appel

Jean Dubuffet

Site aléatoire avec un personnage
1982
Acrylic and collage on paper mounted on canvas
67 x 100 cm


Jean Dubuffet

Elément bleu XII
1957
Transfer on polyester resin
200 x 96 x 10 cm


Art should be born from the materials.
-Jean Dubuffet

Alexander Calder

Double Humpbacked Crinkly
1970
Sheet metal, wire and paint
45.7 x 110.5 x 86.4 cm


The basis of everything I do is the universe.
-Alexander Calder

A.R. Penck

Untitled
1990
Ink and wax crayon on paper
150 x 200 cm


“Everything is paradox and schizophrenic, flat and magnificent, extremely reactionary and very progressive, decadent and fascistic. And so am I! And so are you!”
-A.R. Penck

Hermann Nitsch

15_20
2020
Acrylic on canvas
200 x 300 cm


Hermann Nitsch

HF_05_20
2020
Acrylic on canvas
200 x 150 cm


I never was interested to make provocation. I want to show intensity. And let’s say, maybe in intensity is a kind of provocation, but for me it always is important to show life and to celebrate life.
-Hermann Nitsch

Sam Francis

Untitled
1987
Acrylic on canvas
122.2 x 91.4 cm


Color is born of the interpenetration of light and dark.
-Sam Francis

Kenny Scharf

Botox Jungle
2004
Oil, acrylic, silkscreen on canvas with artist frame
294.6 x 228.6 cm


Kenny Scharf

Headblox
2016
Oil on canvas
304.8 x. 228.6 cm


Part of what I do and what I want to do is I want to bring art into the everyday life. If you can take ordinary just walking in the street and you're confronted by something, that might change your day - it might inspire you.
-Kenny Scharf

Mel Bochner

Mistake
2019
Monoprint with engraving and embossment on Twinrocker paper
127 x 168.3 cm


In my paintings on velvet, the paint is delivered indirectly to the surface. First, a computer-controlled laser engraves the text into an acrylic sheet, which will serve as a printing matrix. Then, letter-by-letter, the words are hand-filled with pure oil paint, sometimes up to a pound per letter. Finally, the velvet is laid face down on the plate, placed in a hydraulic press, and subjected to 750 tons of vertical pressure. The text, like life, bleeds out to the edge of the frame, leaving us with nowhere to go except in.
-Mel Bochner

Julian Opie

Charles, Justina
2018
Silkscreen on painted wooden board
101 x 63 cm


Julian Opie

Kris and Verity Walking 2
2010
Vinyl on metal stretcher
222 x 137.9 x 3.5 cm


I sometimes think about a shadow. If you look at someone's shadow, you can see their character or what mood they're in
-Julian Opie