Playground at Niru Ratnam
Nov 9, 2022 — Jan 14, 2023
Artists: Matthew Krishanu
Your London Exhibition Guide
Must-See Shows in November
London offers tons to see at the many galleries and museums that dot the city. Some might even say there are too many to see, so that’s where we come in. Explore our list of favorite exhibitions below. We keep it regularly updated, and the shows are in order of freshness. If you’re looking for a bit more in depth coverage, head to our Instagram where these shows and more are featured.
Interior at Michael Werner
Nov 10, 2022 — Feb 4, 2023
Artists: Kai Althoff, Frank Auerbach, Nairy Baghramian, Enrico David, Jake Grewal, Gwen John, Christina Kimeze, Stanislava Kovalcikova, Florian Krewer, Janette Laverrière, Gilbert Lewis, Hilary Lloyd, Anne Low, Victor Man, Julien Nguyen, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Francis Picabia, Walter Price, Andy Robert, Raphaela Simon, Austin Osman Spare, Anita Steckel, Mary Stephenson, Angus Suttie, Félix Vallotton, Édouard Vuillard, Willa Wasserman, Lionel Wendt.
O happiness! happiness! at Hales
Nov 10, 2022 — Dec 17, 2022
Artists: Martyn Cross
Veronica Ryan at Alison Jacques
Sep 29, 2022 — Dec 21, 2022
Artists: Veronica Ryan
Carolee Schneemann at Barbican Art Gallery
Sep 8, 2022 — Jan 8, 2023
It’s hard to convey the full extent of Carolee Schneemann’s influence on contemporary art. Her revolutionary practice was marked by her fearless heart and steely gaze. She left no stone unturned, taking on the urgent topics of sexuality, oppression, and violence with equal strength. The Barbican exhibit features a remarkable range of work – from early paintings to later performance pieces – in which Schneemann’s own body played an increasingly important role. Though her medium and visual language changed with the turbulent years of her career (she died in 2019, aged 79), a rebellious spirit and appetite for experimentation remained ever constant. You’ll experience a striking freshness that retains every ounce of its original potency.
Image Credit: Carolee Schneemann: Body Politics Installation view Barbican Art Gallery
William Kentridge at Royal Academy of Arts
Sep 24, 2022 — Dec 11, 2022
William Kentridge draws, sculpts, paints, weaves, and animates on a plane that belongs to him – and him alone. Much is said about contemporary artists who “create their own worlds,” but Kentridge is one of the few to truly do so. As you’ll quickly discover for yourself, his world is zany, intricate, hilarious, tragic, and endlessly unexpected. The RA show is Kentridge’s largest to date in the UK: it includes monumental tapestries, dramatic collages, kinetic sculptures, and animated films. Themes of political repression and sinister industrialization loom large: Kentridge came of age in Apartheid South Africa. But the work’s lasting impression is of the resilience and craftiness of the human spirit, and the liberating power of creativity.
Image Credit: William Kentridge, Carte Hypsométrique de l’Empire Russe, 2022. Hand-woven mohair tapestry, 400 x 600 cm. William Kentridge Studio, Johannesburg © William Kentridge
Cecilia Vicuña (Hyundai Commission) at Tate Modern
Oct 11, 2022 — Apr 16, 2023
It took far too long for the art world to recognize Cecilia Vicuña for the remarkable artist she is. Born in 1948, she wasn’t represented by a major gallery until 2018. But now is the time to make amends, and Vicuña brings her complex and captivating eco-conscious art to the Tate. Her signature quipus, intricate woven sculptures based on an ancient Incan craft, grace the museum’s Turbine Hall. In her native Chile, Vicuña witnessed the environmental destruction wrought by foreign industry, and her work has long sought to expose, explore, and heal the rifts we humans make between ourselves and our planet. In London, the quipus integrate artifacts found along the muddy banks of the Thames. Looking up at their dangling forms, your imagination flies out the windows, down the river, and across the ocean, filling you with a sense of interconnectedness and separation, fragility, and strength.