Creed, Martin (1968– )

English artist. His works are typically minimalist, using everyday, mundane media and reflecting an antimaterialism and playful wit. His widely exhibited Work No 200, ‘half the air in a given space’, consists of white balloons filled with air to fill exactly half the gallery space. He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for The Lights Going On and Off, an empty gallery with a pair of flashing lights.

He attended the Slade School of Art, London, 1986–90. Much of his work reflects his questioning of the limits of art and the relationship between art, reality, and life. Other works include mundane objects such as Work No 79, ‘some Blu-Tack kneaded, rolled into a ball and depressed against a wall’ (1993) and Work No 88, ‘a sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball’ (1995), and neon signs such as Work No 232, ‘the whole world + the work = the whole world’ and Work No 220, ‘Don't Worry’ (both 2000). He moved to Alicudi, Italy, in 2001.