Michael Craig-Martin

Michael Craig-Martin’s acrylic paintings examine the formal qualities of consumer products. Using bright, tasteful color palettes and meditative line drawings, Craig-Martin’s work extends from Pop Art’s interrogation of commodities to the anthropomorphic qualities of goods that were carefully designed for optimal user satisfaction. Works such as Desk Chair (2012), an acrylic painting on aluminum, studies the graceful curves and ergonomic design of a common school desk, inducing the viewer to consider the form and function of such mundane objects more closely.

Craig-Martin taught at Goldsmiths College London and was an influential mentor for many generations of British artists, including the infamous YBAs. Craig-Martin studied at Yale and Fordham University and has been widely exhibited, including solo shows at the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Arp Museum in Remagen, Germany. His work has been collected by Harvard University, The Arts Council of Great Britain, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Tate, and others.