What to see in London in February? Here’s my pick of ten shows which are (a) free and (b) open through at least the first half of the month.
Allison Katz: Artery at Camden Art Centre (and Canada House) – wonderfully inventive, playful and technically savvy painting show: see my interview with her at Artlyst
Caro & North American Painters at Gagosian, Grosvenor Hill – prime sculptures in conversation with paintings for which Caro swapped his own work
Jenna Gribbon: Light Holding at Massimo de Carlo – innovatively empathetic portrait paintings
Noémie Goudal: Post Atlantica at Edel Assanti – ingenious takes on paleoclimatology in a sparkling new space
Fausto Melotti Theatre at Hauser & Wirth – sculpture and ceramics meet the stage in surprising conjunctions
Holly Hendry: Fatty Acids at Stephen Friedman – a witty and cohesive body of sculpture
Memeplex™ at Seventeen – group show engineered by Omsk Social Club and Joey Holder: compellingly wacky but also with some great work, notably by Minjeong An and Kinke Kooi
Oh, Marilyn! at Gazelli Art House – feminist classics from Jann Haworth, Penny Slinger and Judy Chicago, with a sprinkling of Pauline Boty
Karel Appel: Paris / New York at Max Hetzler – an impressive overview of the Dutch artist’s varying practice over the years, complete with an entertaining film of him in action, in a newly expanded space.
Rosemarie Trockel: Why gravel, Ms Smith? at Sprueth Magers – elegantly elusive across multiple forms, plus bonus is a new second space of an Andreas Schulze show.
Standards are high at the moment: eg Sadie Coles, Cristea Roberts and Maureen Paley also have fine shows, and there promising openings in the next few days at Thomas Dane, South Parade, Pi Arts, Laure Genillard, Carl Kostyal, Peer and Koenig…
Art writer and curator Paul Carey-Kent sees a lot of shows: we asked him to jot down whatever came into his head
