Michael Craig-Martin on Educating Damien Hirst

Artist Michael Craig-Martin, the man who helped foster the development of the 'Young British Artists', discusses the early work of one of his most famous pupils, Damien Hirst.

Artist Michael Craig-Martin was an influential teacher at Goldsmith's College, London in the 1980s, where he became mentor to a gifted group of students, later known as the 'Young British Artists'. Among them was Damien Hirst.
 
TateShots caught up with Craig-Martin at Tate Modern, and asked him to revisit that fertile period, which saw Hirst create his first Spot paintings, Medicine Cabinets and his iconic installation 'A Thousand Years'.

Michael Craig-Martin + Liam Gillick, "Pictures and Places"

Senior Loeb Scholar Lecture: Michael Craig-Martin

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.

Michael Craig-Martin _ TateShots

Michael Craig-Martin - What Do Artists Do All Day ?

Leading contemporary artist Michael Craig-Martin has an ambition to paint all mass-produced, everyday objects in the world. This film gives a rare insight into the artist at work in his London studio and his preparations for a major sculpture exhibition at Chatsworth House.

In the 1980s Craig-Martin was was an influential tutor at Goldsmiths College, which became synonymous with a new generation of talent known as the YBAs (Young British Artists), including Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas and Gary Hume.

In the grounds at Chatsworth, Craig-Martin supervises the installation of twelve heavy, steel 'line drawing' sculptures including vibrant umbrellas, huge garden implements and a giant pink shoe. Additionally, he has been invited to make a selection of historic portrait drawings from the Devonshire Collection and has made an intriguing, colourful 'intervention' to the marble sculptures throughout the house.

Michael Craig-Martin at Chatsworth House : Exhibition continues until June 29th 2014.