You can't force yourself to be something you are not. Michael Craig-Martin More Quotes by Michael Craig-Martin More Quotes From Michael Craig-Martin The internet has extended the possibility of making art to more people, and particularly of enabling it to be seen by others. I am sure the internet is having a profound impact on art, particularly those who have grown up with it, but making good art will remain as difficult (and as easy) as it ever was. Having a lasting impact may become more not less difficult. Michael Craig-Martin impactpeopleart When I was invited to go to Wuhan, I didn't know anything about it, so I looked up the Wikipedia about Wuhan. I discovered that part of Wuhan used to be Hankou, and then I realised that my great grandmother came from Hankou. My grandmother and father were both born in Hankou. Of all the places in China, it is the most amazing place to have asked for my exhibition. I needed to go back where my family comes from! Michael Craig-Martin wikipediagrandmotherfather You can't honour someone by copying them or trying to be exactly like them. Michael Craig-Martin honourcopyingtrying In my early work I didn't use much colour. I had no confidence about how I could do this. Michael Craig-Martin no-confidencecolouruse When I told people that I was going to paint the big room magenta, many people thought that I was crazy. Michael Craig-Martin crazypeoplerooms When I was in Wuhan, I went to the art school, which was one of the most important art schools in China, an enormous art school. One of the things that I saw is that the schools are very big and there are so many students. It is very difficult to me to teach creative activity to great numbers of people, because I think you need personal contact with students, you need to speak individually, you need individual contact between teachers and students, you need continuity. To me this is a problem in mass education in every society now. Michael Craig-Martin teacherartschool I had my exhibition of paintings first in Shanghai, and then recently in Wuhan. Wuhan particularly interested me, because I am 1/8 Chinese. Michael Craig-Martin exhibitionschinesefirsts When I started teaching in the late 60s, in a time of student revolutions and changes, they changed in question of society and authority. Michael Craig-Martin revolutionstudentsteaching I think that cultural influence is very deep, it is not on the surface and this is true in every culture. Michael Craig-Martin influenceculturethinking I wanted to make new works of very contemporary objects, which I thought was interesting because many of them are manufactured in China, but these objects are universal, they go across all languages, all cultures. Michael Craig-Martin new-workcultureinteresting For example, in England, we teach about Expressionism, but it is not the same in England as it is in Germany, because Expressionism is more important in the history of German art. So although it is the same history, the emphasis is different. Michael Craig-Martin differentimportantart If you were really interested in being creative in teaching, it was possible to try new methods and that was really what we did in Goldsmiths - we used the freedom of the time. Michael Craig-Martin creativeteachingtrying You can take things from the past, from the culture, from the immediate past and things that have not yet entered the culture, so they have no history yet. You can create your own context. Michael Craig-Martin culturepast Often people do not properly value things that they are good at naturally because they find them too easy. That is very problematic. Michael Craig-Martin valueseasypeople There was something really wonderful about being able to feel confident about doing my first exhibition in China, that people would have no trouble recognising the images and understanding my work. I also have a lot of freedom in the way I use colour, and I think that kind of freedom in colour is also understandable in every culture. Michael Craig-Martin understandingpeoplethinking For many years I hoped to have an exhibition in China, because of my family connection. Michael Craig-Martin exhibitionsconnectionsyears In a sense [Joseph] Albers was an authoritarian teacher. He had rules about most things and very definite ideas. Michael Craig-Martin definiteteacherideas I don't like the idea of nationalism, but on the other hand, I do see that there is a difference between British art, German art and Chinese art. This is because of the history, because each country has different history and each country reads and teaches that history differently. Michael Craig-Martin countryhandsart I decided I should use the most obvious colours - the basic colours with simple names: red, purple, yellow, pink. I don't distort the objects, I don't change the objects, I draw them exactly as they are. I do the opposite with the colours. Michael Craig-Martin simplenamesopposites There is no doubt when one comes from the West to China one understands pop art as having originally developed as part of Western tradition. There is a historical development, in which things find resonance in different places. Michael Craig-Martin historicaldoubtart
