When I go to China I see many artists whose work reflects on aspects of contemporary popular culture but obviously the history of Western art is not part of their own tradition. Michael Craig-Martin More Quotes by Michael Craig-Martin More Quotes From 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! Michael Craig-Martin shadowtakenexpression 'Understanding' art is like having a sense of humour - if you don't have one, no amount of explanation is going to make you laugh. Michael Craig-Martin laughterhumorart I am trying to present objects in the simplest way possible, and I don't want to supply too much context. Michael Craig-Martin too-muchtryingway I try to make images that have the immediate presence we take for granted in objects - a chair, a shoe, a book, a Judd - and compose them like sentences. Michael Craig-Martin shoesbookart I thought the objects we value least because they were ubiquitous were actually the most extraordinary. Michael Craig-Martin ubiquityperceptionusual Art is more to do with observation than invention. Michael Craig-Martin observationinventionart The art world, of all worlds, has room for everyone. Michael Craig-Martin roomsworldart I think the best approach is not to be too much like the thing that they are referring to, see it as a guide. Michael Craig-Martin guidestoo-muchthinking If things are too similar, the dialogue is not very interesting. If you put in contrast, big and small, abstract and representational, you set up the possibility of a discourse. Michael Craig-Martin possibilityabstractinteresting Whatever happens to the art world, art will go on regardless. As for obscurity, it looms just over the horizon beckoning us all. Why worry. Michael Craig-Martin horizonworryart As an artist you are free to use any image, any style, any idea from any culture and any period of history. Michael Craig-Martin styleartistideas If you close the door to the things you feel comfortable with, you will never discover the truth about yourself. Michael Craig-Martin about-yourselffeelsdoors 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. Michael Craig-Martin pastyearsthinking In the late 70's I started to make drawings of the ordinary objects I had been using in my work. Initially I wanted them to be ready-made drawings of the kind of common objects I had always used in my work. I was surprised to discover I couldn't find the simple, neutral drawings I had assumed existed, so I started to make them myself. Michael Craig-Martin drawingsimpleordinary The complexity of the language of images is disguised by the ease and rapidity with which we read them. I've tried to make work that is as transparent and simple as possible. No matter how much I strip away the result is always more complex to me than I expect. Michael Craig-Martin simplematterease If you try to copy something exactly you won't get it correct, because you don't share the same tradition and context. Michael Craig-Martin traditionsharetrying All the basic information should be in the object itself. Michael Craig-Martin objectsinformationshould I came to painting through sculpture, to images through objects. I think that images sit in the middle, somewhere between objects and words. Michael Craig-Martin sculpturepaintingthinking The identifying personal association with objects, which are not personal, is an important modern experience - our real association, the strands of our feelings about the objects that surround us. It's also because they are so familiar, we don't think of them as important in the world, but actually they are the world. We are living in a very material world. Michael Craig-Martin realfeelingsthinking You can't force yourself to be something you are not. Michael Craig-Martin force
