Michael Craig-Martin

Michael Craig-Martin (born 1941) is an important figure in British Conceptual Art, and among the most influential artists and teachers of his generation. Since his rise to prominence in the late 1960s, he has moved between sculpture, installation, painting, drawing and print, creating works that fuse elements of Pop, Minimalism and Conceptual Art. His work transforms everyday objects—from buckets and ladders to sneakers, mobile phones and laptops—with bold colors and simple, uninflected lines. Renowned as an art educator, he has inspired generations of artists, most notably the Young British Artists (YBAs). This handsome book, the catalog of the largest exhibition of Craig-Martin’s work to have been mounted in the UK, contains thought-provoking text by critics Michael Bracewell and Richard Cork and an illuminating conversation between the artist and the writer Carolina Grau.

Coinciding with a retrospective exhibition at the Royal Academy, this catalogue raisonné enumerates all of Michael Craig-Martin's (born 1941) printed work. Screenprints, letterpress and computer works all present his signature style of everyday objects drawn in outline and rendered in intense saturated colors.

Upon returning to the UK after studying in the US, the Irish-born artist Michael Craig-Martin (born 1941) became a key figure in British conceptual art and an influential educator, linked in particular to the generation of Young British Artists, including Damien Hirst and Gary Hume. Craig-Martin's works transform recognizable objects—such as sneakers, headphones, watches and, most recently, modernist buildings—with bold color and simplified lines. He cites his "rationalism" as the root of his art. Craig-Martin is the latest subject of a three-year curatorial partnership between the Windsor Gallery, Florida, and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, initiated to celebrate the latter's 250th anniversary. This lively book reproduces a selection of his paintings, prints and sculptures, with an essay by the art critic Ben Luke and an exclusive interview between Tim Marlow and the artist.

Few living artists can claim to have had the influence of Michael Craig-Martin (born 1941). Celebrated globally for his distinctive art, with numerous retrospectives and honors to his name, he has helped nurture generations of younger artists.

In On Being an Artist, now published in paperback, Craig-Martin reflects with wit and candor on the people, ideas and events that have shaped his professional life. In a series of short, entertaining episodes, he recounts his time studying under Josef Albers at Yale University School of Art alongside Chuck Close, Richard Serra and others; his memories of meeting personal heroes such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and John Cage; and his surreal experience of staking out Christine Keeler at the height of the Profumo scandal.

He recalls, too, his first tentative steps as an artist and emergence as a key figure of early conceptual art, and looks back on his achievements as a teacher at Goldsmiths, where he nurtured two generations of students, among them Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas, earning himself the sobriquet “the godfather of the YBAs.”

Craig-Martin tackles controversial issues such as the fashionability of contemporary art, the enduring status of painting, the relevance of life drawing and practical skills, the qualities of art schools, the role of commercial dealers and the judgment of what is good and bad in art.

More than the life of one of the most creative minds of our age, On Being an Artist provides lesson after valuable lesson to anyone wishing to know what it means and what it takes to be an artist today.

"An erudite, insightful and hugely readable collection." –It's Nice That

"A gloriously illustrated credo-cum-memoir." –artsjournal.com