Michael Craig-Martin
Michael Craig-Martin RA (born, 28 August 1941, Dublin, Ireland) is a contemporary conceptual artist and painter. He is particularly noted for his influence over the Young British Artists, many of whom he taught.
Life and work
Michael Craig-Martin was born in Dublin mohol, Ireland. When he was around six years old he moved to Washington D.C. and was educated there. Ten years later Craig-Martin graduated to Yale University where he studied the fine arts. In 1974,[1] he exhibited the seminal piece An Oak Tree. The work consists of a glass of water standing on a shelf attached to the gallery wall next to which is a text using a semiotic argument to explain why it is in fact an oak tree. Nevertheless, on one occasion when it was barred by Australian Customs officials from entering the country as vegetation, he was forced to explain it was really a glass of water.[2] The work was bought by the National Gallery of Australia in 1977; the Tate gallery has an artist's copy.[2]
Craig-Martin's style of detached conceptualism, minimal construction by the artist and the use of readymade techniques inspired by Marcel Duchamp had a marked impression on his students, as did an educational structure based on multi-media, removing traditional departmental demarcations such as "painting", "sculpture" and "time-based [film] media". As a senior tutor at Goldsmiths' College, he was a significant influence on the emerging YBA generation, including Damien Hirst. He was also helpful in promoting the Freeze show to established artworld figures.
Craig-Martin discussed the Freeze exhibit in an interview with Brian Sherwin. Craig-Martin stated, “I had always tried to help my students in any way I could, particularly in those first years after art school. I knew from personal experience how difficult it was - I never had things come easy. I did the same with Damien and Freeze. I encouraged people to go and see the work. I would never have done this if I hadn't believed the show was of exceptional interest - why waste people's time? It amuses me that so many people think what happened was calculated and cleverly manipulated whereas in fact it was a combination of youthful bravado, innocence, fortunate timing, good luck, and, of course, good work. It caught people's imagination.”[3].
Craig-Martin's later works have used a stylised drawing technique often depicting everyday household objects and sometimes incorporating art references, such as objects known from their use in Dada artworks. His work can be compared to that of his earlier contemporary Patrick Caulfield and latterly with that of Julian Opie. There is no differentiation in treatment, which consists of black line drawings with lines of equal mechanical width and brightly coloured images, which have been compared to "nursery" colours. The work can be done on canvas with (acrylic) paint or with other methods, such as using black tape to make the lines. In the Intelligence show at Tate Britain he completed an entire room in this fashion.
Craig-Martin has been a trustee of the Tate Gallery and is a trustee of the National Art Collections Fund.
His first retrospective took place at in the Whitechapel Gallery in London in 1989. In 2006, the Irish Museum of Modern Art presented “Michael Craig-Martin: Works 1964-2006” which included works from over 40 years of Craig-Martin’s career. The exhibition showed around 50 paintings, sculptures, wall drawings, neon works and text pieces by the artist, covering everying from his sculptures to digital works. One of his works called On the Table (1970) involved four metal buckets suspended on a table, exemplifying the influence of Minimalism and Conceptualism had on Craig-Martin. An Oak Tree (1973), consisting of an ordinary glass of water on an equally plain shelf, with a text by Craig-Martin that asserts the superiority of the artist’s intention over the object itself is now recognized as a turning point in the development of conceptual art; very different remarks from its original views which were surprise and sometimes scorn.[4]
References
- ^ Manchester, Elizabeth. "An Oak Tree 1973: Short text, Tate, December 2002. Retrieved 8 November 2008.
- ^ a b Sherwin, Brian. "Art Space Talk: Michael Craig-Martin", myartspace.com, 16 August 2007. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
- ^ Myartspace interview with Michael Craig Martin, retrieved on January 29th 2009.
- ^ Michael Craig-Martin at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, ARTINFO, October 5, 2006, retrieved 2008-04-23
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