Michael Craig-Martin

Early life and career Michael Craig-Martin was born in Dublin, but spent most of his childhood in Washington, D.C. Back in Washington, he attended drawing classes given there by artists, then in 1959 attended Fordham University in New York for English Literature and History, while also starting to paint.

In mid-1961 Craig-Martin studied art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, and in the autumn he began a painting course at Yale University, where the teaching was strongly influenced by the multi-disciplinary experimentation and minimalist theories on colour and form of Josef Albers, a former head of department. Craig-Martin later said, "Everything I know about colour comes from that course". Tutors on the course included artists Alex Katz and Al Held.

Work

Craig-Martin has lived and worked in London since 1966. From his early box-like constructions of the late 1960s, he moved increasingly to the use of ordinary household objects. In the late 1970s he began to make line drawings of ordinary objects, creating over the years an ever-expanding vocabulary of images which form the foundation of his work to this day. During the 1990s the focus of his work shifted decisively to painting, with the same range of boldly outlined motifs and vivid color schemes applied both to works on canvas, and to increasingly complex installations of wall paintings.

An Oak Tree

In 1973, 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 an 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. The work was bought by the National Gallery of Australia in 1977, and the Tate gallery has an artist's copy. during the 1980s, was a significant influence on the emerging YBA generation, including Damien Hirst. He was also helpful in promoting the Freeze show to established art-world figures. In 1995, he curated Drawing the Line: a comprehensive touring exhibition on the history of line drawing at the Southbank Centre, London. Craig-Martin and his influence were described in an article in the Observer regarding the mentors of British art, entitled Schools of Thought. Craig-Martin has been a trustee of the Tate Gallery and is a trustee of the National Art Collections Fund.

Later work Since 2011, Craig-Martin has been working on powder-coated steel forms that describe everyday objects and appear like line drawings in the air. The first series was shown in the gardens of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, in 2014, where the sculptures were sunk into the soil of the grounds.

Exhibitions Michael Craig-Martin (left), and Keith Milow at "varnishing day",R.A. Summer Exhibition 2015

Craig-Martin had his first one-man exhibition at the Rowan Gallery in London in 1969. Since then, he has shown regularly both in the UK and abroad. He represented Britain at the São Paulo Art Biennial in 1998. He made his American debut in the "Projects" series at the Museum of Modern Art.

In 2015, Craig-Martin's exhibition "Transience" at the Serpentine Galleries brought together works from 1981 to 2015, including representations of once familiar yet obsolete technology; laptops, games consoles, black-and-white televisions and incandescent lightbulbs that highlighted the increasing transience of technological innovation. In the same year, Craig-Martin coordinated the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, where he invited several artists from his generation. In 2024, a retrospective opened at the Royal Academy in London.

Collections

Craig-Martin's work is represented in public collections worldwide, including: Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland Arts Council of Great Britain, United Kingdom British Council, United Kingdom Government Art Collection, United Kingdom Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom Tate, London, United Kingdom Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, USA Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Personal life Craig-Martin met Jann Hashey while at Yale University, The marriage ended in 1976 when Craig-Martin came out as gay. Craig-Martin is one-eighth Chinese, as his great-grandmother was a native of Wuhan, China.

Craig-Martin was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2001 Birthday Honours. Craig-Martin was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to art.