Editing Michael Landy (section)

==Early life and works==

Landy was born in London. He first studied art in [[Loughton]] and [[Loughborough]], then at [[Goldsmiths&nbsp;College]] in London, having been inspired to take up art professionally after having a picture selected for display on the [[BBC]] television art program [[Take Hart]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/jan/20/tony-hart-michael-landy | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Michael | last=Landy | title=Michael Landy: How Tony Hart gave him his big break | date=20 January 2009}}</ref>

After graduating from [[Goldsmiths, University of London|Goldsmiths]] in 1988, he exhibited in the ''[[Freeze (exhibition)|Freeze]]'' exhibition, organised by [[Damien Hirst]]—an exhibition which first brought together a group of artists that would later become known as the [[Young British Artists]].

In 1990, Landy exhibited in [[East&nbsp;Country&nbsp;Yard]] with several of the artists from ''Freeze''. His first solo exhibition was ''Market'' (1990), an installation comprising numerous empty market stalls. Like much of his later work it was intended as a comment on [[consumerism]] and society.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

In 1992, Landy started an association with [[Karsten&nbsp;Schubert]] by making ''Closing Down Sale'' for his gallery, an installation made up of a number of objects in shopping trolleys labelled "BARGAIN" and recorded announcements encouraging visitors to buy.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} The work was intended as a comment on the commodification of art, and might be seen as a precursor of sorts to ''Break Down'', a work which produced no salable objects, except an edition of inventories (books) listing all destroyed items.

Before ''Break Down'', Landy's best-known work was ''Scrapheap Services'' (1995–1996), which featured a fictitious cleaning company which sought to change society by way of "a minority of people being discarded". Promotional videos were made for the company and a large number of cut-out men were made from old magazines to be swept up and destroyed. This installation typifies the YBAs' interests in transforming the mundane into art, and recontextualisation. Its visual impact on one level is a typical industrial event, yet the gallery environment and bright red figures, along with the sinister irony of the title, is intended to force the viewer to address issues of humanity and consumerism.

[[Image:Landy-Scrapheap-Services.jpg|thumb|180px|left |''Scrapheap Services'', 1995.]]
In 1997, work which Landy had previously sold to [[Charles Saatchi]] was included in the [[Sensation exhibition]] at the [[Royal Academy]] in London.<ref>(12 September 1997). [https://www.artdesigncafe.com/sensation-royal-academy-of-arts-london-1997 Sensation at the Royal Academy of Arts, London] (press release). ''artdesigncafe''. Retrieved 8 April 2020.</ref> This show later toured Berlin and New York, but Landy's work was somewhat overshadowed by some of the other more outrageous artworks.