Line, colour and an encyclopedia for modern life
ART
OBJECTS OF OUR TIME
Alan Cristea Gallery | By Alex Dymoke
Four Stars
IN THE 1970s and 80s, Michael Craig-Martin’s output earned him a reputation as the most hated man in British art. His brazen conceptualism infuriated the critics. One particularly memorable piece was “Oak Tree” – a glass of water on a plinth with some accompanying text asserting that the glass of water is indeed an oak tree. In recent years the critical establishment has been more sympathetic, viewing Craig-Martin more as a kindly grandfather than an upstart young pretender. This is partly because he has eschewed the wanton provocation and stuck instead to popular, tried and tested series from earlier in his career. Objects of Our Time continues a project that started in the 70s when he set about recording the defining objects of the era through thick-lined colourful drawings. These images still have a bubble-gum appeal, and the show highlights some interesting changes in the way objects have changed. In the past, the function of most of the objects we used could be derived from their form. Not any more. Could you work out what a USB stick does just by looking at it? No way.