I wasn’t sure I was going to like this exhibition of work by Michael Craig-Martin but I’m happy to report that it was very enjoyable. I tend to be drawn to a painterly painting, with plentiful brushstrokes and evidence of the artist’s hand at work and I wasn’t sure that his very graphic, almost cartoon-like style might not appeal to me. But it just goes to show that you need to wander around an exhibition with an open mind and be prepared to reassess any preconceived ideas.
Loved the hot, bright colours the curators have chosen to set off these works. The celebration of ‘ordinary’ objects is great fun. Once you look beyond the intense colours and the strong outlines, the composition is thoughtful and the subjects are intriguing.
Above: an example of Craig-Martin’s interpretation of old masters, reducing themto strong graphic shapes with bold colours. On the right is a self-portrait.
I really enjoyed the Digital creation entitled Cosmos – an immersive film with everyday objects flying across the walls, balls bouncing, musical instruments barrelling across the space in time to an interesting plinky plonky music track. It did make me feel like Alice tumbling down the fictional rabbit hole, passing shelves of familiar objects, seeing life cascading past her as she drifted further down to Wonderland.
The exhibition features some of Michael Craig-Martin’s early work too. Experiments with form, balance and conceptual ideas. I really liked the wonky shelf with the milk bottles.
And I was also impressed by the wall sculptures which are an interesting mix of his drawings combined with blocks of colour. Also, I was fascinated to learn that it was the discovery of a special black crepe tape, used in electronics, which he used to create the very uniform outline shapes.
Interesting seeing an artist’s world where there is no shading, no deliberate 3D expression yet somehow the objects just explode from their surfaces. A very interesting exhibition. It’s on at the Royal Academy in London until 10th December 2024.
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