Concerning himself primarily with the idiosyncrasies of prescribed value, Michael Craig-Martin suggests that ‘we often look for the special in special objects or special events, but actually, if we understood the quality of ordinary things, we are closer to the substance of life.’ In a series of twelve screenprinted images, Objects of our Time exemplifies this contention, using the individual item as an archetypal referent for modernity. Like art, material objects derive meaning from our own understanding. Requiring human intervention, Craig-Martin’s works reveal the power of context and ground his entire oeuvre within modern and post-modern histories.
Using seemingly mundane themes, Craig-Martin often also poignantly references art historical tradition. In Art & Design, another work by the artist presented here, he includes the outline of Jeff Koons’ iconic 1986 sculpture, Rabbit. Similarly, the inclusion of a pipe is an obvious nod to Rene Magritte’s 1929 painting Ceci n’est pas une pipe (The Treachery of Images), and its own interrogation of objective materiality.
On a fundamental level, both series convey the tension between a commodity’s use and its value, exploring how this discrepancy pervades art as much as life.