The shops may be oh-so cautiously opening on London’s Oxford Street but there is a refreshing lack of restraint in an exuberant new work by Michael Craig-Martin, which from tonight engulfs the three-storey façade of luxury fashion shop Flannels store in an illuminated extravaganza featuring floating fruit and vegetables.
“During lockdown the only direct shopping that was possible was for food and I found myself looking at fruit and vegetables in a new way” says Michael Craig-Martin. The result is his Cornucopia Galactica in which giant line drawings of multicoloured produce are set in perpetual motion, hurtling, bobbing and twirling against a background of constantly changing colour. “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,” explains Craig-Martin. He adds: “I hope you never look at broccoli the same way again.”
Another view of Craig-Martin's Cornucopia Galactica © Michael Craig-Martin
Craig-Martin’s cosmic grocery display has been created in collaboration with W1 Curates and will be on view 24 hours a day at 161-67 Oxford Street (on the corner of Poland Street) from tonight until 12 July.