Michael Craig-Martin

Michael Craig-Martin, born in Dublin, 28 August 1941, is a painter and contemporary conceptual artist and is also a Emeritus Professor of Fine Art. Paul and Rhona, his Irish parents, who lived in London, wanted their son to be born in Ireland, and went to Dublin for the birth and then returned to London.

In 1945, the family moved to Washington D.C. and he was given a religious education, in the English Benedictine Priory School, he was encouraged to look at religious imagery in illuminated glass panels and stained-glass windows. He gained an interest in art through one of the priests, who was an artist. Drawing classes in the Lycée with Antonio Roda, gave him a wider perspective on art and in the fall of 1959 began a painting course at Yale College.

In the 60’s during the Vietnam War, Craig-Martin received a offer to a job in England, he needed money so the artist moved to England again.  

In the 1980s, Craig-Martin was a tutor at Goldsmiths College, Department of Art, He was a significant influence on the emerging YBA generation, including Damien Hirst.

I really enjoy the work of this artist because of the bold colours and disorganized shapes. I like bold colours as well and I like when I make a piece of work that makes me feel good and happy. In this Mural Project I will try to incorporate some bold and happy colours and simplified shapes, so this research was really helpful to my project.

 In the 23rd page of my sketchbook I copied this picture, in the right,  using acrylics.

This image, called Yellow, is part of the installation 'Inhale/Exhale' by Michael Craig-Martin and as you can see in this picture there is a large light bulb in the centre, a globe without mapping detail, a metronome, an oversized pencil sharpener, a plastic chair, an ice cube tray, a cassette tape, an empty filing cabinet, and in the background a step ladder and a drawer extracted from a cabinet.

Michael Craig-Martin with this image wants to explore and show the details of these household objects rather than hiding them, this is evident with the two drawers in the background where they are lining forward so the viewer can see the detail inside.

This image has a happy and alive mood and the atmosphere is a little bite messy. It seems almost like a disorganized studio or an attic and all of these colours convey feelings of joy and happiness in the viewer.

The subject matter of this artwork is the art work itself because its all about line, shape, perspective, colour and, mostly important, composition.

The artist starts by making a sketch and marking carefully the lines of the simplified objects on a canvas before he adds the acrylics, using thin and mat paint, finally he makes the black lines with a thin brush. In some exhibitions Michael paints directly on the walls of the galleries and he not only uses acrylic paint but many other methods, such as using black tape to make the lines.

       Because of the different angles and perspectives you can see some depth in the ice cube tray and the drawers for example. Some objects seems like the viewer is above them, like the pencil sharpener and some others objects seems that the viewer is in front of them, like the metronome. You also can see that some objects are further away than others, and the sizes were close to the reality. The painting has a smooth texture and the pastels colours are exaggerated and not close to the colours of the real objects, and because they are bright and bold colours the paint doesn’t have dark areas and all of these convey happiness and joy to the viewer.


Artist's web site:  http://www.michaelcraigmartin.co.uk/

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