Martin Creed

 ( 1968 Births ) 

Work No. 916 consists of retail (empty) boxes (postage labels still applied) aligned on top of each other making a pyramid. This is part minimalism part readymade blending the two in a way reminiscing Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes; but where Warhol made copies Creed made use of various different boxes, so the work could be seen as yet another comment about authenticity in modern art. A metaposition is then attached as there exist different (unique) pieces of work by the same artist all looking the same, with the same disposition (or slightly altered like in Work No. 876 where the boxes form an up and down pyramid), but alas composed of other retail boxes.

was commissioned to herald the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

In 2009, he wrote and choreographed Work No. 1020: Ballet, a live performance of Creed's music, ballet, words and film, originally produced by Sadler's Wells, London and performed in the Lilian Baylis Studio. In 2010, Work No. 1020: Ballet was performed at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and at The Kitchen, New York, in December 2013. Work No. 1020 was also performed in 2014 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in connection with Creed's retrospective at the Hayward Gallery, London. He designed a work for Victoria Beckham's store on Dover Street in Mayfair, London in 2015.

Creed's works are found in museum collections worldwide, including at the Colleccion Jumex in Mexico City, and The Lights Going On and Off at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Work No. 1000 consists of 1,000 hand prints made with broccoli, and exemplifies Creed's comical, child-like approach to art. He also frequently gives talks, and performs live with his band.

In 2011, Creed was commissioned by Fruitmarket Gallery to make a work as part of the restoration of the historic Scotsman Steps in Edinburgh. Creed's Work No. 1059 was subsequently installed, cladding each of the 104 steps and landings in a different type of marble. The Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones called it "a generous, modest masterpiece of contemporary public art".Jones, J. 3 September 2013. 'Martin Creed's light goes on and off for me'. The Guardian. Retrieved 29 December 2013.

In 2012, Creed was the first artist to participate in the long-term programme of artist-conceived restaurants at Sketch, London. Together with a series of paintings and wall drawings, Creed specifically created Work No. 1343 where every single piece of cutlery, glass, chair and table was different and brought together a mix of the mass-produced and hand-crafted, from classic antiques to contemporary design from all around the world. Work No. 1347, still on display at the restaurant, consists of 96 different types of marble, in a herringbone formation across the floor.

In 2019, Work No. 2950: WHATEVER was placed on the roof of a building in Auckland, New Zealand. It is a large multicoloured neon sign showing the word “WHATEVER”.

In 2010, he provided the cover art for a Futuristic Retro Champions single, while supporting its launch with an appearance with his own band with Keiko Owada on bass, Genevieve Murphy on keyboards, Ben Kane on drums and Anouchka Grose on steel guitar.[9]

Creed started his own label, Telephone Records, and released the single "Thinking/ Not Thinking" in early 2011, following it up with the single "Where You Go" in 2012. Releases accelerated in 2012, with the Double AA Side single "Fuck Off" and "Die" coming out on Moshi Moshi Records in May 2012, in advance of the album Love To You, released on Moshi Moshi in July 2012. The album is produced by David Cunningham, Martin Creed and The Nice NIce Boys (Andrew Knowles of Johnny Marr and Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand). The Vinyl Factory worked with Creed to produce a limited edition of the release which featured hand-painted covers by Creed. The single "You're The One For Me" came out at the same time as the album.

January 2014 saw the release Mind Trap, an album that featured songs alongside instrumental pieces for orchestra. Creed sings and plays the instruments, supported by gospel singers Dee Alexander and Yvonne Gage (who have worked with The Police, Madonna and R.Kelly) and Andy Knowles (musical credits include stints with the Fiery Furnaces & Franz Ferdinand) playing drums on If You're Lonely, You Return and Don't Tell Me. Keiko Owada plays bass on Gift Attack / Don't Won't. Co-produced by Martin with Andy Knowles, the album was recorded in London, Chicago and the Czech Republic. Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand and Mark Ralph (who works with Hot Chip) provided additional production. The Chicago songs, which form the heart of the album, were recorded all-analogue at John McEntire's (Tortoise) Soma Studios. Engineered by Bill Skibbe (The Kills/Franz Ferdinand). It also includes 3 specially commissioned orchestral works: Work No. 955 was originally written for the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Work No. 994 was composed for the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra and Work No. 1375 was commissioned by the London Sinfonietta. These pieces were recorded for the album by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mikel Toms. All lyrics and music on the album are written by Martin Creed, with the exception of the New Shutters which is Martin's arrangement of a traditional Neapolitan folk song. The album sleeve features one of Martin's paintings, Work No. 1674: Anouchka and was designed by Andy Knowles, who has recently directed videos for Franz Ferdinand and The Cribs. Martin Creed is also much loved by Franz Ferdinand - regular attendees at his gigs and co-producers on his album 'Mind Trap' - as well as Moshi Moshi label-mates Slow Club.

A new body of audiovisual work was released in late November 2015 in response to the Syrian refugee crisis. The double A-side single “Let Them In / Border Control” was made available via Telephone Records as free downloads on SoundCloud. Both songs are accompanied by videos which Creed made himself.

In July 2016, Martin Creed released a new album entitled Thoughts Lined Up. The album includes the singles "Understanding" and "Princess Taxi Girl" for which accompanying videos have been released.

Creed says that he makes art works not as part of an academic exploration of 'conceptual' art, but rather from a wish to connect with people, 'wanting to communicate and wanting to say hello'. The work is therefore primarily :

The first major survey show of Creed's, 'What's the point of it?', took place at the Hayward Gallery, London, in January 2014. The exhibition included a number of his best-known works, from the installation Work No. 227 The Lights Going On and Off (2000), Work No. 293 A sheet of paper crumpled into a ball (2003), to his epic sculpture Work No. 1092 MOTHERS (2011). Coinciding with the exhibition at the Hayward, the Southbank Centre commissioned Martin to compose a new piece for the Royal Festival Hall organ, resulting in Work No. 1815, a performance alongside some of J.S Bach's greatest organ works.

Creed's largest survey show to date took place at Park Avenue Armory, New York from June - August 2016, curated by Tom Eccles and Hans-Ulrich Obrist. Entitled The Back Door, using both the Wade Thompson Drill Hall and the historic interiors of the building, the show brought together a sequence of works from Creed's more than 20-year career.

In 2017 he had an exposition in Museum Voorlinden in the Netherlands titled Say Cheese. In this exhibition he showed a wall with 1000 broccoli prints in various colors, he filled a room with blue balloons for walking through. In another room he showed many were ticking at different speeds.

In 2019, the Centro Botín Centre held an exhibition called Amigos. It ran from 6 April to 9 June and features several new installations including one put amongst some trees which surround the building.

In 2019, the Museum of Recent Art held an exhibition called Thinking / Not Thinking. It ran from 12 February to 2 May and features several installations.

• (2026). 9783822840931, Taschen. ISBN 9783822840931

• Official site
• Artkrush.com interview with Martin Creed (April 2006)