Born in Dublin in 1941 and educated at Yale, Michael Craig-Martin was a key figure in the first generation of British conceptual artists of the 1960s and a powerful influence on the generation known as Young British Artists. From his early, box-like constructions, he moved to installations and line drawings of ordinary objects, always working against the logic of his sources with elegant restraint and conceptual clarity. In the 1990s, his focus shifted to painting and to complex installations of wall paintings with boldly outlined motifs and luridly vivid color schemes in unexpected combinations. Craig-Martin's work is in the collections of MoMA, Tate Gallery and Centre Pompidou. He has had solo exhibitions, permanent installations and retrospectives at institutions across the world. He was an Artist Trustee of Tate from 1989-99, received a CBE in 2001 and was elected to the Royal Academy in 2006. Craig-Martin lives and works in London.
