Still Life Citrus, (Detail 2) – Eyal Granit
New Covent Garden Market Vitrine Art Commission is a new three-year long public art initiative, funded by VINCI St. Modwen (VSM) in association with Covent Garden Market Authority and realised in collaboration with London’s largest contemporary art festival Art Night. It aims to promote the work of artists of all career stages working within photography, painting, text or other two-dimensional medium.
The commissioned artwork is selected annually through a public open call with the help of an expert advisory board and is presented on the New Covent Garden Market building fac?ade in Nine Elms Lane, London.
Artists were invited to apply with proposals of artworks inspired by fruit, vegetables and flowers, the key products of New Covent Garden Market – the UK’s largest and oldest fresh wholesale produce market – and consider the market’s physical context and communities. For the New Covent Garden Market Vitrine Art Commission 2019 artist Eyal Granit (b.1979, Jerusalem, Israel) was chosen to create a new work titled ‘Still Life Citrus’ (2019) to be unveiled on 24 October, 2019 and on display until October 2020.
In his winning proposal, the artist creates an image that reflects on the immortal nature of fruit. Reminiscent of the works of 16th and 17th-century painters and produced using the focus stacking technique, this hyper-realistic fantasy photograph glorifies the common objects of daily life. Inspired by ‘Bodegones’ by the Spanish master Juan Sa?nchez Cota?n, which Granit came across while studying photography in Madrid, the image features an abundance of citrus fruits displayed on a large table in and around crystal glasses and vases, antique jars and trays, or hung from above, and complemented with arrangements of orchids and daffodils. Combining multiple images taken at different focus distances gives the resulting image a greater depth of field, creating this panoramic tableau outside the constraints of a single frame.
The judging panel for the New Covent Garden Market Vitrine Art Commission 2019 was chaired by Aida Esposito, Founder and Director of Creativethinking and Lead Creative Strategist for VINCI St Modwen
, and comprised of Anna Skladmann, Visual Artist; Charlotte Brooks, Art Curator, RHS Lindley Library; Lynn Parker, collection curator Kew Gardens and Zarina Rossheart, Director of Open Programme, Art Night. The selection process was held in consultation with representatives of VSM, Covent Garden Market Authority and market traders.
Eyal Granit said:
“Citrus for me is going back to childhood. With this work I reflect on the ideas of home, belonging, memory and personal history. I have been passionate about photography since an early age and I am truly humbled to have received such an incredible opportunity to present my work to a global audience in London, where the public can encounter and enjoy it every day. That’s where artwork and real-life connect, and this connection somehow brings the work to life.”
