Published by Royal Academy of Arts. Text by Ben Luke. Interview by Tim Marlow.
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.
Published by Art / Books. By Michael Craig-Martin.
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
Published by Koenig Books. Foreword by Julia Peyton-Jones, Hans Ulrich Obrist. Text by Marco Livingstone, Alice Rawsthorn.
This publication situates the vibrant, graphic paintings of Michael Craig-Martin (born 1941) within a wider historical context, including a timeline of significant world events and inventions from 1981 to 2015. Craig-Martin’s paintings depict pieces of everyday technologies like headphones, credit cards and electrical sockets.
For this coloring book, Irish artist Michael Craig-Martin (born 1941) has selected a number of common, contemporary objects, including skateboards, laptops and mobile phones. Known for bold juxtapositions of color in his own paintings, Craig-Martin offers the reader a chance to do the same.
Published by Art / Books. By Michael Craig-Martin.
Few living artists can claim to have had the influence of Michael Craig-Martin (born 1941). Celebrated internationally for his own art, he has also helped nurture generations of younger artists, among them Julian Opie, Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas, Liam Gillick and Gary Hume. Often described as the godfather of the YBAs, he taught by combining personal example and individual guidance, offering students practical advice and insights gained from his own professional highs and lows. Part memoir and part instructional guide, On Being an Artist mixes reminiscence, personal philosophy, self-examination and advice for the budding artist. In a series of short episodes, Craig-Martin reflects with both wit and candor on the many ideas, events and people that have inspired and shaped him throughout his life, from his childhood in postwar America through his time as an art student at Yale in the 1960s and subsequent work as a teacher, to his international success in later years.
Published by Kerber. Edited by Martin Hentschel. Text by Martin Hentschel, Michael Craig-Martin.
Less Is Still More is Michael Craig-Martin’s homage to German-American architect Mies van der Rohe. Craig-Martin’s series of 17 paintings depict everyday objects such as t-shirts and iPhones, which are documented here as installed at the Museum Haus Esters in Krefeld.
Published by Kunsthaus Bregenz. Edited by Eckhard Schneider. Essays by Liam Gillick, Eckhard Schneider and Edgar Schmitz.
The series "Signs of Life" concentrates on the idea of a universally comprehensive picture language made up of mundane objects like the paintbrushes, flashlights and folding chairs Craig-Martin has made into a screensaver (which is available from MoMA.org) and objects from the art world, of which he says, "To draw Piero [della Francesca] is the same thing to me as drawing a shoe." Or, as he demonstrates, as drawing a Seurat. Canvases and wall-filling paintings conjoin here into a total artwork with a strong personality. Michael Craig-Martin, whom the BBC has called "the father of Britart" has taught at Goldsmiths College, London, since 1974. His work has been shown in the UK at the Hayward Gallery, the Whitechapel Gallery and the Tate Modern, and in the U.S. at Gagosian Gallery and The Museum of Modern Art.
PUBLISHER Kunsthaus Bregenz
BOOK FORMAT Hardcover, 9.5 x 11.75 in. / 128 pgs / 50 color.
PUBLISHING STATUS Pub Date 10/15/2006 Out of print
DISTRIBUTION D.A.P. Exclusive Catalog: FALL 2006 p. 113
PRODUCT DETAILS ISBN 9783865600851TRADE List Price: $65.00 CDN $75.00
Published by Richter Verlag. Edited by Raimund Stecker.
In appropriating 11 sculptures, 11 reliefs, and 11 objects by Hans Arp, Michael Craig-Martin presents everyday objects--a mobile, a shoes, a pair of scissors--that he has drawn on black-and-white wall surfaces. These mural drawings, which belong to the artist's new work group that he realized at the Rolandseck railway station near Bonn, Germany, show stylized objects that have been linked to each other by a repeated pattern that expands to an allover network. Into these object drawings, Craig-Martin has integrated paintings of his objects, positioned on the same motif. This interplay between appropriation and originality--often practiced by the artist--is already apparent in his treatment of originals by his colleagues, for example, Jasper John's beer cans or Magritte's pipe. The exhibition, documented here by numerous illustrations, brings this appropriation process to our attention once more. The fact that Arp's sculptures and reliefs lead to Craig-Martin's works invites the viewer to reflect on the original versus its interpretation.
On Being an Artist
Michael Craig-Martin: Transience
Michael Craig-Martin: Colouring
On Being an Artist
Michael Craig-Martin: Less Is Still More
Michael Craig-Martin: Signs of Life
Michael Craig-Martin: Arp Craig-Martin Arp