Venice? Pah! London’s top art shows
THE art world has descended on Italy for the Venice Biennale. Sadly, most of us will not be among the 25,000 visitors to La Serenissima. But for anyone who wants an art fix in London, the choices here are spectacular too.
Yinka Shonibare: Suspended States
Yinka is back with his first solo London exhibition in more than two decades, which our reviewer called “beautiful, alluring and disquieting”. Expect statues of Queen Victoria and Churchill wrapped in bright fabrics, models of buildings that have housed the vulnerable, and his War Library.
• Serpentine South Gallery, to September 1; serpentinegalleries.org
The Last Caravaggio
Caravaggio’s kinetic paintings continue to inspire awe, wonder and revulsion. Which is why a darkened room with just two of his paintings will have people flocking in. An epic display.
• The National Gallery, April 18 to July 21; nationalgallery.org.uk
When Forms Come Alive
Want to see sculptures bulging, undulating, drooping or even erupting? Go to the Hayward for a
show of contemporary sculpture, exploring how artists have drawn on “movement, flux and organic growth”.
• Hayward Gallery, to May 6; southbankcentre.co.uk
Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream in
This show brings together the work of two pioneering female photographers, working a century apart.
Cameron is one of the early greats, while Woodman created works of imagination, clarity and beauty.
• National Portrait Gallery, to June 16; npg.org.uk
Yoko Ono: Music of the mind
John Lennon described Yoko Ono as “the world’s most famous unknown artist”. Now, aged 91, she is receiving a well-overdue retrospective at Tate Modern. With more than 200 works, it’s playful, philosophical and surreal.
• Tate Modern, to September 1; tate.org.uk
Ibrahim Mahama: Purple hibiscus
Mahama has teamed up with hundreds of craftspeople from
Ghana to create this delicate, uplifting installation, which has wrapped the Barbican in 2,000 square metres of purple cloth, made of 100 batakaris — royal Ghanaian robes.
• Barbican, to August 18; barbican.org.uk