Michael Craig-Martin
Baseball Cap, 2019
Preeminent conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin is renowned for analysing the dynamic between …
Conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin—who taught Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, and others at London's Goldsmiths College in the 1970s—is often called the godfather of the Young British Artists. His early work referenced Minimalism and Dada's depiction of mass-produced objects. These objects form Craig-Martin's most recognizable works, paintings in which about 200 familiar items (eyeglasses, milk bottles, scissors) are depicted both realistically and graphically, represented in lurid, unexpected color combinations and black outline. The seminal piece An Oak Tree (1973) consists of a glass of water on a shelf, paired with text declaring that the glass is, in fact, an oak tree.
Preeminent conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin is renowned for analysing the dynamic between objects, images and language. Early in his career, Craig-Martin worked with sculpture and installation to address these concerns, creating works that knowingly referenced American minimalism. In the 1990s, around the time …
Conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin—who taught Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, and others at London's Goldsmiths College in the 1970s—is often called the godfather of the Young British Artists. His early work referenced Minimalism and Dada's depiction of mass-produced objects. These objects form Craig-Martin's most recognizable works, paintings in which about 200 familiar items (eyeglasses, milk bottles, scissors) are depicted both realistically and graphically, represented in lurid, unexpected color combinations and black outline. The seminal piece An Oak Tree (1973) consists of a glass of water on a shelf, paired with text declaring that the glass is, in fact, an oak tree.
