(b New York, 26 Oct. 1951). American painter (and latterly sculptor and film director). His paintings are typically large and in a Neo-Expressionist vein; often they are on unusual materials such as carpet or velvet, and some of them are heavily encrusted with broken crockery (Humanity Asleep, 1982, Tate, London) or incorporate other three-dimensional objects (sometimes the supports themselves are three-dimensional, with central projections like a chimney breast). In the 1980s he enjoyed a meteoric rise as the most touted figure in the international art world, treated more like a pop star than a painter, and many critics feel that the huge prices his works have fetched depend more on media hype and the investment value of contemporary art than on any intrinsic merit.