Michael Craig-Martin’s hot-pink artwork seems to work up the viewer’s appetite at the entrance to Floating, the L7 GANGNAM fine dining restaurant, offering a sweet, leisurely break from the daily routine in the heart of Gangnam, Seoul.

Consisting of two squares, it features large letters, soccer shoes, baskets, bulbs, and cups on a background of primary colors. The unfamiliar arrangement and haphazard color juxtaposition of the simplified image reveals the artist’s distinctive screen composition. He states that the letters used in the work are merely one element and medium making up its overall composition and that there is no hidden meaning or significance. Other objects also exist strictly as a visual medium, irrespective of their definition. The artist’s intention behind his work is left open to individual interpretation. Such visual stimuli immerse viewers in a sensory experience, while enriching their dining experience through the appreciation of artworks left to each and every one of their imaginations and interpretations.

Installation artist and painter Michael Craig-Martin had a significant influence on young British artists in the 1980s and 1990s. Born in Ireland, Craig-Martin was raised and educated in the United States. After receiving a fine art degree from Yale University, he moved to England in 1966 and became one of the most influential figures among first-generation conceptual artists in Britain.

He played an important role in the Freeze student art competition (1988) in London. His artistry was influenced by minimalism and his later works explored the themes of reproduction and reality. An Oak Tree, which articulates the importance of the artist’s intention over the object itself, proved to be an important turning point within the conceptual art movement.

His works deal with everyday objects, establishing a close relationship between images, lines, words, and colors. His pieces have been showcased in several solo and group exhibitions, the most important being The New Art (1972), a conceptual art exhibition held at the Hayward Gallery in London.