Fork and knife

Conceptual artist Michael Craig-Martin, who was born in Ireland in 1941, grew up in the United States. By the end of the seventies, he began making line drawings of ordinary, familiar objects. Over the years, he developed an increasingly extensive palette of images, which still forms the basis of his work today. Since 2011, Craig-Martin has been crafting sculptures from powder-coated steel.

His sculptures bring a new dimension to the everyday objects that have been the basis of his work for decades. In ‘Fork and knife’, he presents a standard fork and knife that appear to be floating, as if they were drawings in the air. Although the scale is exaggerated, they still give the impression that they are quite small and light. Regarding the choice of very ordinary objects, Craig-Martin says, “I have always thought that everything we need is right under our nose.”

This statement is reflected in all his work, which is entirely about everyday objects. The work speaks directly to everyone’s imagination, through its recognisability, precision of the lines and vivid colours. Craig-Martin’s sculptures are clever in their simplicity, evoking tangible associations with everyday life, while simultaneously carrying a symbolic and conceptual potency.