Artist Research

Michael Craig Martin

After visiting the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester for the UCAS fair, I found a piece of artwork that I really liked for the simplicity and the colours. I couldn't find out who the piece had been done by for the lack of a plaque, but it was pointed out to me that it could potentially be the work of artist Michael Craig Martin, who I had previously looked into because of his piece 'Oak Tree'.

Because I am looking at using a combination of bright colours and 'heavy' subject matters, I liked the piece mainly because of the colours, and less for the objects depicted in the piece.

Because I was unsure of who it might have been, I looked into Michael Craig Martin, and realised that he had other pieces with the same torch, but in variations of colour.

I like the simplicity of his work, and the bright colours, which I feel I could somehow put into my own work.

Michael Craig Martin:

Michael Craig Martin was born in 1941, and was educated in the U.S at Yale School of Fine Arts and Architecture, studying in Fine Art. 

He has lived and worked in Britain since 1966.

His first solo exhibition was in 1969 at the Rowan Gallery, London. 

His best known works include 'An Oak Tree', 1973, his large scale black and white wall drawings, and his intensity coloured paintings, installations and commissions, including the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, the Laban Dance centre in London, (in collaboration with Herzog and deMeuron) the DLR station at Woolwich Arsenal, and most recently, the HDI Gerling Headquarters in Hannover.

He has had exhibitions of his work in Paris, New York, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Hannover and Valencia. 

He represented Britain at the 23rd Sao Paulo Biennale.

He is known for being an influential teacher at Goldsmiths College, London, and was a Tate Trustee from 1989 to 1999.

He was awarded a CBE in 2000, and was elected an RA in 2006.