Episode 11 - Michael Craig-Martin at the Royal Academy

Craig-Martin is an influential conceptual artist and painter. He was born in Dublin in 1941, but grew up in the US, studying Fine Art at Yale. He has lived and worked in Britain since the mid 1960s and has been a major figure on the Contemporary Arts scene since the 1970s.

His work, according to Gagosian “fuses elements of Pop, Minimalism, and Conceptual art, his art transforms everyday objects with bold colours and simple uninflected lines.”

From the early 1970s Craig-Martin was a tutor at Goldsmiths College and is widely-regarded as having had a significant influence on the emerging YBA generation, many of whom went to Goldsmiths, including Damien Hirst.

Joining us for this episode is historian and writer James Heartfield, author of numerous books including The ‘Death of the Subject’ Explained, ‘Britain’s Empires: a history 1600-2020’ and The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society 1838-1956 : A History.

We are pleased to welcome back Rachel Jordan. Rachel is primarily a visual artist, but also one third of ‘naHs’ an experimental performance trio (Nothing’s Alien to me that is Human), which was launched earlier this year with a show in Norwich titled ‘Labour in Vain’, and now stage a regular cabaret in London called World of the Absurd.

James very kindly made this short video intro, where he shares some of his thoughts and observations as he makes his way around the exhibition .