Michael Craig-Martin: Alphabet
A Hayward Touring Exhibition
20 June - 13 July 2013
Michael Craig-Martin (b.1941) is one of the most influential British artists of recent decades. In his recent series, Alphabet, he has produced 26 screen-prints in which the letters of the alphabet are overlaid with everyday objects such as a book, a glass of water or an umbrella.
Created in his signature style, these visually arresting images are set against a background of vivid monochrome colours. Throughout his career Craig-Martin has explored the aesthetic and linguistic character of everyday, designer and iconic ‘art-historical' objects, which he has realised through a variety of media including paintings, sculpture, prints and computer animations. In this series Craig-Martin plays with the idea of the ABC children’s primer. Instead of a direct 'A is for Apple', 'B is for Ball', the relationship between the letter and image depicted is not instantly obvious and requires some guesswork.
Over the past decade, Craig-Martin’s practice has embraced digital technology. He has used a computer to create an image bank of everyday objects employed in large-scale wall drawings and paintings. He drew upon this resource to create Alphabet, which was then produced using traditional screen printing methods.
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