SHOWNews: Your Weekly Arts Bulletin

by Christina Donoghue on 15 October 2024

Your ultimate guide to the exhibitions and shows to have on your radar by art and culture editor Christina Donoghue.

Your ultimate guide to the exhibitions and shows to have on your radar by art and culture editor Christina Donoghue.

'Roses from my Garden', Nick Knight

EXHIBITION

Nick Knight: Roses from my Garden at La Fundación Barrié

Nick Knight's impeccable eye for beauty has meant he has long held the title of one of fashion's most sought-after image-makers worldwide. Alas, fashion isn't his only muse; the natural world and, in particular, the many hidden wonders of his own back garden in Richmond also provide SHOWstudio's director with daily inspiration, as proven in his photography series, Roses From My Garden.

Since starting seven years ago, the spectacularly popular series has gone on somewhat of a European tour, exhibiting at Albion Barn in Oxford, Waddesdon Manor in Aylesbury, Musee de la Photographie Charles Nègre in Nice and as of tomorrow on 18 October 2024, will also be on show at the Fundación Barrié headquarters in Spain. We would say be quick to grab your ticket as this one is definitely one to note but lucky for you, admission is free. For more information, click here.

Nick Knight: Roses from my Garden at La Fundación Barrié will be on view to the public until 26 January, 2025.

A close-up of 'History student', 2024. Oil on linen

EXHIBITION

Kind Hearted Sinners by Benjamin Spiers at Saatchi Yates Paris

When you're in the company of a painting by the phenomenal Saatchi Yates artist Benjamin Spiers, a lot of things come to mind but most importantly, it's the art of looking that matters most and his latest exhibition Kind Hearted Sinners is no exception.

Suspended between cubist and surrealist signatures all the while exploring the fragility of beauty juxtaposed with the grotesque, there's no recipe to understanding just how Spiers paints like that, all you need to know is that it doesn't magically happen out of thin air. Hundreds of hours painting, refining, repainting, reworking and painting some more are spent so you can have the experience of a lifetime devouring the layers upon layers in his work. Wonder how he can achieve the sublime mixed with a fabulous sense of the macabre? Our advice isn't as radical as you may think. All you have to do is look.

Kind Hearted Sinners by Benjamin Spiers at Saatchi Yates Paris will be on view to the public until 29 November.

Robert Longo at Thaddeus Ropac

EXHIBITION

Searchers by Robert Longo at Thaddaeus Ropac

Acting on his own desire to produce art grappling with multiple possible meanings while looking to previous bodies of work such as his famed Men in the Cities series, Robert Longo's Searchers exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac challenges the way we consume and interpret images in the digital age. Referencing Sergei Eisenstein's Soviet Montage Theory as well as John Berger's seminal 1972 text, Ways of Seeing, the exhibition re-visits Longo's 1980s 'Combine' collages, mimicking Rauschenberg's own (another Thaddaeus Ropac artist), not only in name but in style, too.

Taking collage and the entire Combines series to a new plane, each new work measures 7.5 metres in width and is composed of five panels, each of which is made up of charcoal, video, painting, sculpture and photography to intentionally skewer the way we interact with viewing images in the 21st century.

Searchers by Robert Longo at Thaddaeus Ropac will be on view to the public until 20 November.

Ithell Colquhoun, 'Song of Songs', 1933. Oil on canvas

EXHIBITION

Enchanted Alchemies: Magic, Mysticism, and the Occult in Art at Lévy Gorvy Dayan

The surrealists may have been raging sexists (not to mention, incredibly bourgeoisie) but that's not to say that various artists associated with the movement weren't talented. In fact, on the women's front: surrealism birthed some of the most talented painters of the 20th century, most notably Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington and Leonor Fini, and, lucky for us, their art is unleashed in Lévy Gorvy Dayan's latest exhibition Enchanted Alchemies: Magic, Mysticism, and the Occult in Art, shown alongside works by contemporary practitioners including Francesco Clemente, Chitra Ganesh, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Bharti Kher, Linder, and Goshka Macuga. Spanning painting, sculpture, ceramic, watercolour, and collage, the exhibition delights in all things mystical and the occult, reflecting the transformative and alchemical themes of the artists’ works while doing so.

Enchanted Alchemies: Magic, Mysticism, and the Occult in Art at Lévy Gorvy Dayan will be on view to the public until 21 December.

Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage at The Photographers' Gallery

EXHIBITION

Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage at The Photographers' Gallery

You'd be hard-pressed to find two better words than 'dreamlike' and 'melancholic' to describe Deborah Turbeville's imitable photography style. Reacting to the glamorous, polished aesthetic that dominated fashion's landscape throughout the 1970s, (think Guy Bourdain and Helmut Newton), Turbeville's images always stood out amongst the crowd thanks to her unpredictable choice of casting enigmatic female figures who were often photographed in abandoned, decaying surroundings against a backdrop of wintry nature and cloudy skies.

Having travelled from the MUUS Collection to The Photographers' Gallery, Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage presents the image-maker's trailblazing photographic explorations from fashion photos to her very personal work, bringing together unique pieces that made up the artist's own highly personal artistic universe, one credited with transforming fashion imagery into avant-garde art.

Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage at The Photographers' Gallery will be on view to the public until Sunday 23 February, 2025.

Pablo Picasso, 'Femme au châle rouge' (Suzanne Bloch), 1904, pen and ink with watercolour on paper

EXHIBITION

Grand Spectacle! Entertainment in Belle Époque Paris at Ward Moretti

Fancy a grand spectacle? Say no more. Make sure to get yourself down to Ward Moretti gallery in St James' before 1 November to witness the golden age of French culture - aka the Belle Époque era - immortalised in the art of Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Kees Van Dongen; all of whom lent their talent to depicting the rising cabaret dancers and singers in 1900s Paris. By providing a small snapshot into the fleeting and captivating spectacles of the city at that time, Grand Spectacle! Entertainment in Belle Époque Paris does more than just entertain, it transports you to another realm. We're not here to tell you whether timeslips are possible are not, all we ask is that you attend this exhibition at Ward Moretti first so you can make an informed decision, we'll say no more...

Grand Spectacle! Entertainment in Belle Époque Paris at Ward Moretti will be on view to the public until 17 November.

Image from 'Human Stories: Unreported Uprisings'

EXHIBITION

Human Stories: Unreported Uprisings by Inès Elsa Dalal at NOW Gallery

Produced in collaboration with Getty Archives, Human Stories: Unreported Uprisings by Inès Elsa Dalal acts as a time capsule of protest imagery from 1970-1980s London. Coupling photographic essays documenting protests of striking workers from the first quarter of 2023 with archival protest imagery from Getty Archives, Dalal’s images capture a wide array of disenchanted groups within society including striking firefighters, train drivers, teachers, junior doctors, nurses and public civil servants. Communicating solidarity through photography, the exhibition not only is an act of protest itself but also forms a series of Human Stories that cannot be ignored, no matter how absurd laws on 'protesting' become.

Human Stories: Unreported Uprisings by Inès Elsa Dalal at NOW Gallery will be on view to the public until 17 November.

Installation view, Haegue Yang, Come Shower or Shine, It Is Equally Blissful, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China, 2015. © Haegue Yang. Photo Tang Xuan. Courtesy of Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing

EXHIBITION

Haegue Yang: Leap Year at Hayward Gallery

Probing into contemporary ideas of cross-cultural pollination, modernism, folk traditions and personal and political histories, Haegue Yang's Leap Year exhibition at Hayward Gallery sets out to mark the artist as one of the leading artistic voices of her generation. Illuminating the artist's multifaceted practice from 1995 to today, the exhibition pushes new ways of seeing, thinking, understanding and learning when it comes to the arts. If you're looking for your daily dose of creative inspiration when it comes to fashioning household objects anew, look no further than Haegue Yang: Leap Year.

Haegue Yang: Leap Year at Hayward Gallery will be on view to the public until 5 January, 2025.

25. Riar Rizaldi, Mirage, 2024. Exhibition view. Commissioned and produced by Gasworks. Photo: Dan Weill

EXHIBITION

Riar Rizaldi: Mirage at Gasworks

It's fair to say the topics of quantum mechanics and physics seldom make their way into the art world but Yogyakarta-based filmmaker Riar Rizaldi is here to change all of that. Looking at how advanced technology affects lives, particularly in Southeast Asia, the Indonesian filmmaker's latest presentation of moving image works Mirage aims to examine different interpretations of reality through the lens of science.

Based on the back of her residency at Gasworks earlier this year, Mirage marks the first and second chapter of a ten-year project exploring how modern science and advanced technology affect the lives of humans and non-humans in Southeast Asia. For any sci-fi buffs in the room familiar with American astronomer and planetary scientist Carl Sagan, you may experience a sense of déjà vu upon watching Mirage and you wouldn't be the only one as Rizaldi has made an informed choice to edit the work in a similar style to that of Sagan's very own popular 1980s television show, Cosmos.

Riar Rizaldi: Mirage at Gasworks will be on view to the public until 22 December.

Duncan Grant, Seated Male Nude from Behind. © Estate of Duncan Grant. All rights reserved, DACS 2024. The Radev Collection

EXHIBITION

Collecting Modernism at Charleston

If you haven't heard of The Radev Collection then get learning. From Pablo Picasso to Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant to Amedeo Modigliani, this enormous cluster of paintings is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most significant private collections of modern art in the UK. And, for the first time ever, it's gone on display to the public in its entirety, not only offering an intimate perspective on the development of modernism across Europe but also a sneak peek into the lives of those who spearheaded it. By shedding light on the paintings themselves as well as those who cherished them greatly, Collecting Modernism charts the journey of the collection out of the homes of Eddy Sackville-West, Eardley Knollys, and Mattei Radev (all of whom contributed to the unusual lineage of love and friendship in which the collection was born from) and into the public space, where it is currently on display at Charleston in Lewes.

Collecting Modernism at Charleston will be on view to the public until 2 March, 2025.

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