WORK OF THE WEEK: Michael Craig-Martin, Umbrella (purple), 2013
Michael Craig-Martin
Umbrella (purple), 2013
Powder-coated steel
327 x 310 x 2.1 cm
128 ¾ x 122 ¹⁄₁₆ x ¹³⁄₁₆ in.
Edition 3 of 3 + 1 AP
When sited within the landscape, Michael Craig-Martin's sculptures become 'drawings in the sky'.
Michael Craig-Martin (b.1941) established his position as a leading conceptual artist early in his career, when incorporating readymade objects within his sculptural practice in the 1970s. In the 1990s, he made a decisive move towards painting and developed his characteristic style that now also influences his sculpture, using precise lines that demarcate objects in flat planes. Craig-Martin is concerned with the nature of representation within art and the role of the spectator, exploring this through the rendering of everyday objects, from spades to lightbulbs and stilettos, in bold lines and bright colours.
Michael Craig-Martin attended Fordham University, New York, from 1959 to 1961, then Yale University. He taught at Goldsmiths School of Art, London, from 1974 to 1988 and from 1994 to 2000, inspiring generations of artists including the YBAs. Craig-Martin has shown at distinguished institutions worldwide, including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, the Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas, Chatsworth House, England and the Shanghai Himalayas Museum in China. His work is included in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.
In September this year, the Royal Academy will host the largest exhibition of Michael Craig-Martin's work in the UK.