Tabish Khan the @LondonArtCritic picks his top exhibitions to see right now. Each one comes with a concise review to help you decide whether it’s for you. Those looking for more exhibitions should check out his top sculpture exhibitions, all are still open to visit.
Rosie Gibbens @ Zabludowicz Collection
A lolling tongue that covers the artist, a glove on a drill that spanks her and spinning nipple tassels. There’s a lot of humour in Rosie Gibbens’ work but there’s also a darker undercurrent that looks at how women are treated and objectified in society today that makes for deliberately uncomfortable viewing. Visitors should also head upstairs for a magical virtual reality experience surrounded by sea creatures by Mélodie Mousset and Edo Fouilloux. Until 15 August.
Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty @ Barbican Art Gallery
Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Basquiat and almost all of the artists creating the naive figurative art that’s very popular right now. What links them all together? They can all draw a line back to being inspired by Jean Dubuffet, the man who brought ugly into art, and changed the face of art into a disproportionate one. There’s a wealth of versatility on display in this show that includes street art, portraiture and butterfly wings. Until 22 August.
Arghavan Khosravi: In Search of Possibilities of Hope @ Carl Kostyal
The women in these paintings are literally bound by the red cord that wraps across the surface of these works, that reference the artist’s childhood growing up in Iran after the revolution and the religious conservatism that took hold. At times hands are bound and at others the face opens to show that her inner thoughts are bound as well. These impactful works merge Eastern and Western concepts in a contemporary take on the gilded cage motif that often appears throughout the history of Western art, most notably among the Pre-Raphaelites. Until 20 August.
Anusheh Zia and Laila Tara H: Sky Circles @ Indigo + Madder
Religion is experiences and memories, not simply observance – that’s my key takeaway from a prayer mat made from lavender by Anusheh Zia. Get closer and you can breathe in the scent and the memories that come with it, but like a lot of memories the mat appears hazy. This work is at the centre of a two person show that features sculpture and works on paper all around the theme of memory. Until 14 August.
Jack Warne: Rtapte @ Castor
These abstract paintings come to life when you scan them with your phone, and it takes you to a nightmarish jolting image and noises more at home in a horror movie. It’s all very intense and unsettling in this creative take on painting, which is based on the artist’s own experience of growing up with a hereditary disease that causes blindness. Until 7 August.
