The conceptual artist has created a four-metre tall radiant light bulb.
Earlier in March saw the most exciting week in Hong Kong’s cultural calendar with the opening of Art Basel, as part of the country’s art month. To mark the occasion Irish-British conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin revealed his latest installation, Bright Idea 2016, an impressive four-metre tall light bulb sculpture.
Executed with a vibrant powder-coated yellow exterior, the light bulb is presented emerging from the fountain in the Peninsula Hong Kong’s forecourt. The work, which is part of the fifth edition of Art Basel HK, recalls the acclaimed works that Craig-Martin showed back in 2014 on the ground of the English stately home Chatsworth House.
“I thought the objects we value least because they were ubiquitous were actually the most extraordinary.”
Throughout his career, the artist has experimented with the depiction of ubiquitous, everyday objects recasting them in vivid colours and crisply executed compositions.
"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!"
In 2015, Michael Craig-Martin's exhibition "Transience" at the Serpentine Galleries brought together works from 1981 to 2015, including representations of once familiar yet obsolete technology; laptops, games consoles, black-and-white televisions and incandescent light bulbs that highlighted the increasing transience of technological innovation.
In our Brighton gallery, we are very pleased to have several works available by Michael Craig-Martin. His uplifting and brightly coloured work are hugely sought after by avid art aficionados.
They would be a perfect addition to any collection, breathing life and vitality into the home, whilst challenging viewers to reinterpret the familiar and see beauty in day-to-day objects.
