MICHAEL CRAIG-MARTIN 111
In a departure from his familiar imagery, Craig- Martin explored his love of 20th-century architecture in the print series Design and Architecture
Top Frank Lloyd Wright, 2017. Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London
© Michael Craig-Martin
Middle Ronchamp, France, 2017. Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London © Michael Craig-Martin
Bottom Guggenheim, New York, 2017.
Courtesy the artist and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London
© Michael Craig-Martin
Showing no signs of wear or damage, his objects exist in what he describes as ‘a philosophically defined space somewhere between the particular and the general’, an essentially utopian vision of the world where nothing ever seems to be damaged or spoilt. Over time, he built up a large vocabulary of motifs, which he repeated and adapted to numerous spaces and situations. Although he had a deep love for colour he felt unable to use it in his work for many years. ‘Colour frightened me,’ he has written. ‘For my generation of the 1960s, it represented all that we sought to avoid: empty formalism, banal self-expression, the decorative, the arbitrary, the indulgent.’ Te turning point came in the early 1990s when he began exploring the possibilities of paint in his practice. For a 1993 exhibition at Galerie Claudine Papillon in Paris, he made the bold decision to paint the walls of each room a different vivid colour: pink, turquoise, blue, yellow, green and red. Onto each of these he added two of his objects, painted life-size and in more or less naturalistic tones. ‘Te effect of moving from room to room was overwhelming,’ he said. ‘I could see for myself the emotive power and sheer impact of intense colour.’ Working in this way unblocked something for Craig-Martin. He found that painting his drawings in intense colours gave them an unusual emotional charge and it has since become the defining aspect of his work. Te flat colours, which are chosen intuitively, do not describe an object naturalistically; there is no attempt to depict the play of light or shadows. Instead, they emphasise its physical presence by describing the difference between one material and another. ‘It was only when I started making these site-specific room installations that I realised it was necessary to embrace rather than reject the arbitrary and decorative aspects of colour in order to use it effectively,’ he has explained. ‘As soon as I relaxed about the arbitrariness of the colour, I started to discover complex internal considerations in each room and each painting that directed my choice.’ His whole-room painting installations are treated as site-specific and each one responds to the character of the building in which it is created. Visitors to the RA will see how Craig-Martin has engaged with the architecture of its Central Hall, transforming the space with his vibrant designs. With a lifelong interest in architecture, Craig-Martin has taken every opportunity to work professionally with architects and architectural projects. Over the years he has collaborated with internationally renowned firms such as Herzog and de Meuron, David Chipperfield, John Pawson, and Sauerbruch Hutton, creating large-scale permanent commissions in buildings around the world. ‘I have no interest at all in making decorative add-ons,’ he has said. ‘It is always my principal aim to make such works engage as seamlessly as possible with the architectural space in such a way that it is not possible to think of them separately.’ Tis is especially true of the Stirling Prize-winning Laban Dance Centre
(1997–2003) in Deptford, London, designed by Herzog and de Meuron in collaboration with Craig-Martin. He was initially invited to work on the project as a consultant, providing advice on the use of colour throughout the building. His involvement soon grew and he became involved in all the principal discussions regarding the complex design issues involved in the project.
Te exterior of the building is made from a double skin of semi-translucent polycarbonate panels, which are coloured with a palette of magenta, green and turquoise to Craig- Martin’s specifications. During the day, these plastic walls offer glimpses of dancers as they move around inside the building. At night, the centre glows with the artist’s bold and playful colour scheme, which governs the rhythm and orientation of the building. Te interior, designed to evoke an urban streetscape, features corridors and circulation spaces painted with his intense hues, which are intended to lift the spirits of the building’s users. Conversely, the colour palette of the dance studios is a neutral grey, white and black. Te lobby is dominated by a huge wall drawing featuring the artist’s trademark objects rendered in both black and white and colour.
In a departure from his familiar imagery, Craig-Martin explored his love of 20th-century architecture in the 2017 print series Design and Architecture, in which iconic modern houses by renowned 20th-century architects are paired with an interior design classic that they also created. Le Corbusier (2017) features a frontal view of the eponymous architect’s Villa Savoye (1928–1931) on the outskirts of Paris. Rendered in Craig-Martin’s signature pared-back style, the building’s sleek white concrete has turned bright blue with a lurid green interior. It is presented alongside the famous LC4 Chaise Longue of 1928, which is similarly recoloured in orange and blue. A related series, Plan and Elevation, features colourful elevation renderings of landmark modernist structures, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City and Le Corbusier’s Notre- Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France, each of which is paired with a plan view of the building. Craig-Martin’s interest in architecture is evident in the way his public artworks interact with the spaces they occupy. Characterised by their accessibility and ability to transform ordinary spaces into sites of artistic and communal engagement, these works have brought his art to a broader audience. One of the earliest, in 1975, was the result of an invitation from the Arts Council to propose a public sculpture for the facade of the civic library in Margate. He had recently started working with neon and suggested a simple light sculpture of an open book with turning pages. To his surprise he won the competiton and the neon was installed over the front entrance like a sign beckoning passersby into the library. However, the library staff had little interest in it and the neon was rarely switched on; the piece fell into neglect and after the building was demolished
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