WORK OF THE WEEK: Michael Craig-Martin, Wheelbarrow (red), 2013

Michael Craig-Martin
Wheelbarrow (red), 2013
Powder-coated steel
255 x 490 x 2 cm
100 ⅜ x 192 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ x ¹³⁄₁₆ in.
Edition 1 of 3 + 1 AP

Wheelbarrow (red) is characteristic of Michael Craig-Martin's sculptural practice; oversized objects are demarcated in flat planes and powder-coated in vibrant colours. When sited within the landscape, 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 sculpture 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 to define 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, at a monumental scale.

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, the Royal Academy will host a large retrospective exhibition of Michael Craig-Martin's work.