Tabish Khan the @LondonArtCritic picks his Top 5 Art Exhibitions to see in March in London. Each one comes with a concise review to help you decide whether it’s for you. If you’re looking for museum exhibitions to visit, check out last week’s top 5 where three remain open to visit.
Entangled Pasts – 1768 – now: Art, Colonialism and Change @ Royal Academy of Arts
Art from the colonial era is hard to look at in how it depicts persons of colour and that’s what this exhibition confronts us with, but it also includes contemporary artists challenging colonial narratives so we get to see the power of art and how it has influenced the way we think both in the past and today – both for the negative and positive. It confronts the Royal Academy of Arts’ own history and ties to colonialism, making for a powerful and important exhibition. Until 28th April, ticketed.
Erwin Wurm: Surrogates @ Thaddaeus Ropac
Put on a hat, wear a chair as a backpack or hold a broom against a sculpture with your forehead – that’s what visitors are invited to do in Erwin Wurm’s one-minute sculptures. It’s part of a playful show that includes clothing flattened so it retains a human shape even if there’s nobody inside, the proportions are all wrong and it feels surreal. Until 14th April.
… With things as things @ Luxembourg + Co
This exhibition brings together an array of objects used to create art by a broad range of artists including a Man ray metronome, a Rachel whiteread cast of a bookshelf, and an iron wrapped in fabric by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. There are great stories in the show too such as Jeff McMillan’s work on paper that’s been made by wrapping a book in paper and dipping it in ink and paint, and the book that was used is on the bookshelf in the gallery. Until 30th April.
Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters @ Waddington Custot
Incorporating figures of Disney princesses, model boats and a maquette of Brancusi’s endless column sculpture in Romania, it’s a chance to explore the sculptural side of Peter Blake’s practice – accompanied by some works on paper. It’s fun to get lost in all the little details and doors have been installed in the gallery so it feels like we’re venturing into the artist’s studio / workshop. Until 13th April.
Seven Americans @ JC Gallery
This exhibition brings together seven American modernist painters that I wasn’t familiar with from Arthur Dove’s angular landscape to Arthur B. Carles’ dark and moody reclining nude (pictured). These small-scale works made between 1900-1950 are a new discovery for me. Until 27th April.
Entangled Pasts photo: Tabish Khan. Luxembourg + Co photo: Damian Griffiths. All other images copyright artist and gallery.
