MICHAEL CRAIG-MARTIN

Michael Craig-Martin was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1941. He grew up in the United States, where he received his higher education: first at Fordham University in New York (1961) followed by Yale University in Connecticut (1961-1966). In his final year of study, he worked for the School of Visual Arts in New York. In 1968 he settled in London, establishing himself as a leading figure in conceptual art. There he worked at Goldsmiths College, inspiring developing artists including Julian Opie and Damien Hirst. Many of the artists with whom he worked in his years teaching at Goldsmiths were later known as the Young British Artists.

Craig-Martin’s first solo exhibition was in 1969 at Rowan Gallery in London, England.  He worked as an artist-in-residence at King’s College in England from 1970-1972. By 1977, Craig-Martin began to form his visual language of common objects. To this day, he devotes energy into this ever-changing and evolving distilled form of optical communication. Within this vocabulary are images drawn from Craig-Martin’s photographs, which focus on commonplace, mass-produced, and man-made items. In the late 1970s, Craig-Martin used his visual vocabulary to create drawings, which still hold a high importance in his oeuvre, serving as an important foundation for his later work.

In the 1980s, Craig-Martin began an important body of panel paintings. In 1982, he had his first solo exhibition at Waddington Galleries in London, United Kingdom. In 1989 Craig-Martin was appointed as a trustee of London gallery, Tate, and several years later, he was appointed as the Millard Professor of Fine Art at Goldsmith’s.

In 1993, Craig-Martin began adding color to his studies of commonplace objects, granting himself the freedom to choose the colors he wished. The 1990s held much change for Craig-Martin’s art; he began to shift primarily toward painting.  His bold themes and distinctive style led Craig-Martin to be recognized as one of the important members of contemporary Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art. Amongst his creative accomplishments, Craig-Martin received the distinguished honor of Commander of the British Empire in 2001. In 2006, he was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

His work is part of major collections the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France; The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra; the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and at the Tate Gallery in London, United Kingdom. Retrospectives of his work in 2006 and 2007 and many international solo exhibitions exemplify Craig-Martin’s impressive list of professional accomplishments.

Michael Craig-Martin works and lives in London, United Kingdom.

2019 – “Present Sense,” The Gallery at Windsor, Florida, United States

2018/2019 –  “Home Futures,” Design Museum, London, United Kingdom

2017 – “Quotidian,” Alan Cristea Gallery, London, England

2017 – “With Space in Mind,” Tremenheere Sculpture Garden, Penzance, UK

2016 – “Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,” Royal Academy of Arts, London, England

2015 – “Transience,” Serpentine Gallery, London, England

2015 – “Hello Walls,” Gladstone Gallery, New York

2015 – “British Artists,” Galeria Andres Thalmann, Zürich, Switzerland

2014 – “Objects of our Time,” Alan Cristea Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2013 – “Drawing,” GW Museum, Washington, D.C.

2013 – “Less is Still More,” Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld, Germany

2012 – “Michael Craig-Martin: Prints and Drawings,” Galerie I.D., Geneva, Switzerland

2011 – “Michael Craig-Martin: New Works,” New Art Center, Roche Court, Wilshire, United Kingdom

2010 – “Michael Craig-Martin,” The Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas, Texas

2009 – “New Works,” Galerie Haas & Fuchs, Berlin, Germany

2009 – Northern Print Biennale, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

2008 – “Forgetting Velázquez: Las Meninas, Museu Picasso de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

2008 – Martian Musuem of Terrestrial Art, Barbican, London, United Kingdom

2008 – “Outlines,” Gimpel Fils, London, United Kingdom

2007 – “Living in the Material World: ‘Things’ in Art of the 20th Century and Beyond,” The National Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2007 – “ART Futures,” Bloomberg Space, London, United Kingdom

2006 – Irish Museum of Modern Art, INMA, Dublin, Ireland

2006 – “A is for Umbrella,” Gagosian Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2006 – Hiscox Art Projects, London, United Kingdom

2006 – “Switched On,” Alan Cristea Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2006 – “As if by Magic,” Bethlehem Peace Center, Bethlehem, Palestine

2005 – “Painting in the Edge,” Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea

2005 – “Raised Awareness,” Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom

2004 – “Michael Craig-Martin,” Galerie Haas & Fuchs, Berlin, Germany

2004 – “Michael Craig-Martin: New Work,” Alan Cristea Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2003 – “Michael Craig-Martin: Haunch of Venison,” Galerie Judin, Zurich, Switzerland

2003 – “Michael Craig-Martin: Eye of the Storm,” Gagosian Gallery, New York, New York

2002 – “Works 1984 – 1989,” Waddington Galleries, London, United Kingdom

2002 – “Inhale/Exhale,” Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom

2002 – “Blast to Freeze,” British Art in the 20th Century, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany

2001 – Lux Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2001 – “Living,” Sintra Museum of Modern Art, Berardo Collection, Portugal

2000 – “Shifting Ground,” Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland

2000 – “Conference,” Waddington Galleries, London, United Kingdom

2000 – “Full/empty,” Fig-1, London, United Kingdom

1999 – Peter Blum Gallery, New York, New York

1999 – “Michael Craig-Martin: and Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar,” Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart

1998 – “Michael Craig-Martin Always Now,” Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover, Germany

1997 – Alan Cristea Gallery, London, United Kingdom

1997 – “Michael Craig-Martin und Raymond Pettibon, Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande, Dusseldorf, Germany

1996 – “Un Siécle De Sculpture Angalise,” Galerie National du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France

1995 – The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois

1994 – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

1994 – “Wall Paintings at the Villa Herbst,” Museum Sztuki, Lodz, Poland

1993 – “An Oak Tree,” Galeria Foksal, Warsaw, Poland

1993 – Galerie Claudine Papillon, Paris, France

1992 – Waddington Galleries, London, United Kingdom

1991 – “Project Gallery,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

1991 – David Nolan Gallery, New York, New York

1991 – Musee des Beaux Arts, Andre alraux, Le Havre, France

1990 – Galerie Claudine Papillon, Paris, France

1989 – “Sculpture,” Six Friedrich Gallery, Munich, Germany

1989 – “Michael Craig-Martin, Grenville Davey, Julian Opie,” Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples, Italy

1988 – “Starlit Waters: British Sculpture, an International Art 1986-88,” Tate Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom

1988 – “That Which Appears is Good, That Which is Good Appears,” Tanja Grunert Gallery, Cologne, Germany

1987 – “Wall Works,” Cornerhouse Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom

1986 – “L’Attitude,” Galeria Comicos, Lisbon, Portugal

1985 – Waddington Galleries, London, United Kingdom

1984 – “The British Art Show,” City Museum and Art Gallery and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, United Kingdom

1983 – “New Art,” Tate Gallery, London, United Kingdom

1982 – “Aspects of British Art Today,” Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

1982 – Waddington Galleries, London, United Kingdom

1981 – “British Sculpture in the 20th Century,” Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom

1980 – Galerie Bama, Paris, France

1979 – Galeria Akumlatory, Poznan, Poland

1978 – Galerie December, Dusseldorf, Germany

1978 – Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia

1977 – “Reflected Images,” Kettle’s Yard Gallery, Cambridge, England

1977 – Hayward Annual: Current British Art Part II, Hayward Gallery, London, England

1977 – Oliver Dowling Gallery & Museum, Dublin, Ireland

1976 – “Michael Craig-Martin: Selected Works 1966-1975,” Turnpike Gallery, Leigh, United Kingdom

1976 – “Recent International Forms in Art,” 2nd Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

1975 – IX Biennale des Jeunes Artistes, Paris, France

1975 – “Contemporary British Drawings,” XIII Bienal of Sao Paolo, Brazil

1974 – “Idea and Image in Recent Art,” The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1973 – Henry Moore to Gilbert & George, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium

1972 – “The New Art,” Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom

1971 – Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, United Kingdom

1970 – Critic’s Choice, Arthur Tooth & Sons, London, United Kingdom

1969 – Rowan Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Michael Craig-Martin Official Website

Blouin Art Info – “Michael Craig-Martin on Art School, China, and xBox Controllers” by Scott Indrisek

The Independent – My Pupil Damien Hirst: Michael Craig-Martin on the Making of Art’s Wunderkind” by Michael Craig-Martin

Royal Academy of Arts – “Out to Lunch: Michael Craig-Martin RA”

BBC Collective – “The Father of Britart at Milton Keynes Gallery” by Francesca Gavin

BBC – “Watch a Slideshow of 12 Paintings by Michael Craig-Martin” 

Goldsmiths University of London – “Michael Craig-Martin in Conversation” by Richard Noble

The Guardian – “Michael Craig-Martin: Up Close and Impersonal” By Stuart Jeffries

Hibrow, The Arts Online – “Michael Craig Martin: In Conversation with Daniel Stugis at University College Falmouth”

Deutsche Bank – “Michael Craig-Martin: The Pleasure Principle”