Introduction of the artist:

Michael CRAIG-MARTIN (Ireland/UK)

Born in 1941, Dublin, Ireland. Lives and works in London. Selected solo exhibitions: 2009 PKM Trinity Gallery, Seoul / 2003 Eye of the Storm, Gagosian Gallery, New York / 1999 Michael Craig-Martin: And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, Wurttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany / 1994 Centre Pompidou, Paris / 1991 Project Gallery, MoMA, New York / Selected group exhibitions: 2006 the 6th Shanghai Biennale / 2006 Eye on Europe, Museum of Modern Art, New York / 2005 Raised Awareness, Tate Modern, London.

Introduction of works:

Untitled (Briefcase), acrylic on aluminium, 200×200cm, 2012

Knowing, acrylic on canvas, 243.8×365.8cm, 1996

Eye of the Storm, acrylic on canvas, 335.3×279.4cm, 2002

Michael Craig Martin’s seminal work, An Oak Tree consists of a glass of water on glass shelf and a text. The latter, on a wall panel, takes the form of an interview in which the artist answers questions concerning the proposition of the art work whereby it is apprehended as a tree:
  Q[Is] the glass of water a symbol of an oak tree?
  A.No. It’s not a symbol. I’ve changed the physical  substance of the glass of water into that of an oak tree.
  QIt looks like a glass of water ...
  A.Of course it does. I didn’t change its appearance. But it’s not a glass of water. It’s an oak tree.
  ...
  Q.When precisely did the glass of water become an oak tree?
  A.When I put water in the glass.
  Q.Does this happen every time you fill a glass with water.
  A.No, of course not. Only when I intend to change it into an oak tree.

The artist is asserting the transformative power of the human imagination, and this has implications not only for the definition and meaning of An Oak Tree, but also for its identification as a work of art. It is the unseen activity of our “grey matter” – especially expectations brought to an artistic encounter and mental projections – that determine our ways of seeing. This applies equally to our experience of Craig Martin’s other works in this exhibition and the entire exhibition itself.