One of Britain’s leading artists, Sir Michael Craig-Martin has created a new work for an iconic site in London’s Oxford Street, which will be launched on Monday 29 June, presented by W1 Curates. The installation, Cornucopia Galactica, will run 24hrs a day until 12 July 2020.
For many years the artist has had an interest in creating public artworks for digital screens on the architectural scale now familiar in advertising, but the opportunities for artists to do so are rare. W1 Curates, a permanent digital art platform that launched in September 2019, seeks to address this situation by offering artists the creative use of their extraordinary
3 storey digital facility on the Flannels Flagship building on Oxford Street.
Describing his new work, Cornucopia Galactica, the artist said:
“Normally I only draw images of ordinary mass-produced objects, everything from safety pins to shoes and chairs, from books to mobile phones and laptops. During the lockdown the only direct shopping that was possible was for food, and I found myself looking at fruit and vegetables in a new way and began to draw them. This digital work is the result.
It is a celebration, a dynamic cornucopia, a galaxy of these great wonders of nature, constantly moving, turning, spinning through an intensely coloured space like planets, satellites, and spaceships. I hope you never look at broccoli the same way again.”
This public artwork is W1 Curates second commission with Cristea Roberts Gallery, who have worked together with Craig-Martin to bring this extraordinary project to fruition. Michael Craig-Martin is represented by Cristea Roberts Gallery and Gagosian.
Flannels Flagship building, 161-167 Oxford St, Soho, London W1D 2JP (corner of Poland Street).
