Michael Craig-Martin

Michael Craig-Martin is a contemporary conceptual artist and painter was born on August 28, 1941. He is well known for his conceptual artwork. He is also a Emeritus
Professor of Fine Art at Goldsmiths. 

Micheal grew up in Dublin where he was born and during his early years of life, he grew up with a religious education in a Roman Catholic school run by nuns. One of the priests in the school was an artist and this is where Michael gained an interest in art.

Examples of Michael's works:




Martin began to make line drawings of ordinary objects in the early 70's, creating over the years an expanding array of images which form the foundation of his work to this day. The focus of his work  eventually shifted to painting after the 1990's, but followed his previous style using boldly outlined motifs, featuring vivid colour schemes. He applied this style to his works on canvas as well as complex wall painting installations. This bold style gives a pop art inspired style which fits well with the period before and after the 90's.

I like Martin's work because of its simple two dimensional style using bright colours and bold lines. I have realised that he often uses colour theory in his paintings by using warm colours such as red and yellow in the foreground and cold colours such as blue and purple in the background to give a sense of dimension in his flattened drawing style. I really like the busy composition of his work because it includes many found objects from everyday life such as books, buckets and light-bulbs. One of the unique aspects of Michael's work is his surreal use of perspective and proportion, bringing an unrealistic, electric feel to his work.

After studying Martin's work I have been inspired to create my own compositions, using his style and techniques. I would like to develop my own style by  adjusting my use of colour, perspective and proportion in my own work. I would like to try using vivid colours using primary, secondary and tertiary colours as a base.