Jackson's Choice Award 2026

Samir Rakhmanov

Apple Tree

Jackson's Art Prize 2026
Oil
Canvas
110 x 140 cm

£6,200

“This painting returns to memories of long summer days in the garden. The foreground and main figure are immersed in shadow, while the grass and houses in the distance remain in sunlight. That light and shade are not only a way to describe depth and separate the planes of the image; they also mark a passage. The bright background suggests the realm of childhood, while the shadowed foreground points toward the more complex, uncertain space of adulthood. The girl reaching for the apple stands right at that threshold, stretching out of the protected darkness toward something new. The apple tree inevitably evokes echoes of biblical stories of gardens, temptation, and the search for knowledge, turning a simple action into a quiet allegory of growing up. In the background, the faint suggestion of a boy’s figure remains in the light, like a trace of childhood or an alternate self, reinforcing this moment of transition between two states of life.”