“I came to painting through sculpture, to images through objects. I think that images sit in the middle, somewhere between objects and words.” ThinkingMiddleObjectsPaintingSculpture Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“I have never understood, for instance, why some people see contemporary art as divided between 'painting' and 'conceptual art', as though this represented a genuine division.” PeopleArtPaintingUnderstoodGenuineContemporaryInstanceDivisionDividedContemporary ArtConceptual Art Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“I have been using the computer as a work aid since the mid-90's. It is extraordinarily well suited to how I think and work and has transformed my practice. Nearly everything I have done in the past 15 years would have been impossible without it. I use the computer for drawing, composing and colour planning everything, from postage stamps to paintings to architectural-scale installations.” ThinkingYearsWellsHas BeensDoneUsePastPracticeImpossiblePaintingComputerAidsDrawingScalesPlanningColourTransformedStampsComposingInstallationPostagePostage Stamps Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“I had my exhibition of paintings first in Shanghai, and then recently in Wuhan. Wuhan particularly interested me, because I am 1/8 Chinese.” FirstsPaintingChineseExhibitionsShanghai Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“[I] don't want people to see it [paintings] as a specific intention on my part. If somebody has that interest in these objects, of course they can see that, but from my own point of view, I'd rather stay as neutral as possible.” PeopleIfsWantCoursesInterestMy OwnViewsObjectsPaintingIntentionPoint Of View Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“I think that the exchange is very important. Before I did the exhibition in Shanghai, I was a judge for the John Moores Painting Prize and that was very interesting for me, because some of the judges are Chinese and some are British, and we look at the work together. It was fascinating that most of the time we were in complete agreement, but some of the time we were not. People send their works from all over China. For a foreigner, this gave me a very good picture about what is happening in China and its art today.” PeopleThinkingLooksArtImportantTodayTogetherInterestingPaintingJudgingHappeningsVery GoodChinaBritishChineseFascinatingAgreementWorking TogetherPrizeVery InterestingForeignersExhibitionsShanghai Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“Usually people start with painting and then go on to make installations; my painting came from installation.” PeoplePaintingGoes OnInstallation Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“In the studio, it took me a long time to work out how to make paintings that had the intensity that I was able to create by painting whole rooms. There is a very limited number of colours but there are many variations. I decided to use the purest palette that I could.” LongWholeUseAbleRoomsNumbersPaintingLong TimeDecidedWork OutStudiosColourIntensityVariationPalette Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“The first exhibition that I used bright colours in painting the room was at a gallery in Paris, and there were seven rooms in the gallery. It was very nice gallery, not very big rooms, around the courtyard, it was a very French space. So I painted each room in different colour. When people came to the exhibition, I saw they came with a smile. Everybody smiles - this is something I never saw in my work before.” PeopleFirstsDifferentBigsUsedSpaceRoomsSawsNicePaintingSevenParisColourGalleryVery NiceExhibitionsDifferent Colours Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“You can see in my paintings, I've taken away the context, I've taken away the shadows, I've taken away expression, I've taken away the personal, and yet so much remains!” TakenPaintingExpressionShadowRemains Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“I look at the character of the exhibition and I treat it as I would a painting or an installation. When I did the Summer Exhibition at Royal Academy, I did it exactly as I would when making a new work.” LooksCharacterPaintingSummerTreatsRoyalAcademyExhibitionsInstallationNew Work Author:Michael Craig-Martin
“I would never put a sculpture in front of a painting, so that it is difficult to see the painting. I always place each thing so you can see it isolated. You can focus on every individual work.” IndividualDifficultFocusFrontsPaintingIsolatedSculptureIndividual Work Author:Michael Craig-Martin
