SHOWS FOR SUMMER

Phyllida Barlow

For five decades Phyllida Barlow has been making playful, large-scale sculptures which can physically transform gallery spaces. Renowned for her experimental use of everyday materials such as plywood, cement, plasterboard, she creates seemingly precarious sculptures and installations. Her playful and imperfect works can look unstable and resemble things from the real world, such as houses and fences, which might be overlooked by most people.

Michael Armitage

One of Phyllida’s former pupils at the Slade School of Art, Michael Armitage brings his offering, Peace Coma, to the gallery. Featuring a series of new and recent works, he plays on Western art history’s treatment of places that are seen as “other”. He also draws on personal and collective memories of life in Kenya, as well as news and images and aims to challenge social attitudes and inequalities with his paintings.

It includes the first work Armitage made on lubugo, Peace Coma (2012), where he began to develop his characteristic style of layering, removing and reapplying paint.

Community art

Eighty primary school children will also be leading work to transform neglected sites in Margate in July, after 18 months of working with local politicians, council officers, a philosopher, Turner Contemporary’s learning team and their chosen artist for the project Art Inspiring Change.

Its aim is to inspire continuous renewal by harnessing children’s leadership and connecting the community with arts and culture for positive changes.

There will also be a creativity prize for young Africans, the MASK Prize, which is open to young people under 25 living in Africa and people of African origin living outside the continent.