2024 - Issue 125
Four must-see shows. Don’t miss these!
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter to find out what didn’t make the cut, including half a dozen additional shows that are worth a look if you’re in the area.
Olivia Sterling (@oliviaster) and Lydia Pettit (@lydiapettit) lean heavily into humour and horror, respectively, as ways to reclaim agency over a demographic frequently portrayed with derision or pity: larger women. Their unapologetic works, including a brilliant site-specific collab, are so in-your-face you won’t even do a double-take because once they catch your attention you’ll find it hard to turn away. The works are an indulgence of gluttony and lust. Some made me wonder “Am I allowed to laugh at that?” while stifling a giggle, and more than a few led to a wide-eyed reaction. I walked out craving more more more.
‘Bitches in Heat’ at Guts Gallery (@guts_gallery) until 13 Oct
Antonio Tarsis (@antoniotarsis) has turned the futility of manual labour into a maze of deteriorating beauty. Evoking the erratic, makeshift nature of Brazilian favelas, hanging walls composed of ~45,000 cardboard match boxes are a stark reminder about how industrial progress often leaves entire communities with little more than waste. You’re forced to navigate the punctured and shredded panels in order to locate a few framed works, but finding them isn’t the intention and you’ll probably get sidetracked anyway. Sometimes the slowed down repetition and rhythms of life are a lot more interesting.
‘Storm in a Teacup’ at Carlos/Ishikawa (@carlos_ishikawa) until 19 Oct
Tracey Emin (@traceyeminstudio) is still alive, remarkably despite an invasive cancer that destroyed most of her abdominal organs, and she isn’t about to let go of the extended lease on life that she’s been granted. The forty paintings in this show look like they’ve come from a taut hand gripping the brush so hard that it hurts. Raw and visceral emotions literally drip down the canvas in works made by someone furiously working to capture fleeting moments before they, and life, disappear. It gets a bit repetitive, but that’s also what makes the show so powerful. A relentless fixation on love, loneliness, pain and sadness, life and death. And her cats.
‘I followed you to the end’ at White Cube (@whitecube) until 10 Nov
18 cinematic images, titled to imply there are at least 69, appear in sequence as you navigate a series of stripped-bare sets. Like a well edited movie trailer not every secret has been given away, and my emotions changed dramatically as I wandered through the environments, filling in the narrative gaps. A few of the visuals are striking, compelling compositions, although I’m not sure how many of these works by Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (@pamelaphatsimo) would stand on their own. Then again, this isn’t a show about the art, it’s about the power of imagination. Mine. Yours. It’s about reminding the viewer just how creative they can be, by given them just enough visual triggers to set their minds alight.
‘It Will End In Tears’ at Barbican (@barbicancentre) until 05 Jan 2025
Honourable Mention Artworks
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Is it painted? Is it collage? Has it relied on the meticulous use of masking tape or just been Photoshopped? Yes, says artist Charlie Haydn Taylor (@charliehtart). His hybrid works blend a variety of visual and technical styles to great effect and visual depth and are the standout works in an independent group show that he co-curated: Alone Together, until 26 Sept at 2 Hoxton Street, N1 6NG.
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It’s not often I find myself sitting in a church pew reading the Bible, but thanks to thoughtful curation by The Remissio Gallery I took the time to read the “Parable of the Prodigal Son”, which inspired Charlie Macksey’s (@charliemackesy) painting on a Victorian prison door. It’s presented alongside many of his illustrations from his bestseller, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. PS — tell Mole they also have a cafe with cake!
PLUS…
Check the What’s On page so you don’t miss any other great shows closing soon.
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