Tabish Khan, the @LondonArtCritic, picks his Top 5 Art Exhibitions to see in London in August. Check out the previous top 5 if you’re after more shows to visit.
Kathleen Ryan: Roman Meal at Gagosian, Davies Street
I’m a big fan of Kathleen Ryan’s ‘mouldy’ foodstuffs that are made to look mouldy by having them adorned with jewels and gems. It’s a great contrast of using what’s considered luxurious taste to create items that look distasteful. It may just be two items in this small show, a piece of toast and a couple of lemon slices, but they are both spectacular. Until 15th August, free.
Lucy Sparrow: Bourdon Street Chippy at Lyndsey Ingram
Whenever Lucy Sparrow puts on an exhibition, you know it’s going to be a must-see event. Post-pandemic, she let us buy medicines from her all-felt pharmacy, and now the gallery has been turned into a fish and chip shop, complete with cones of chips served in newspaper, pickled gherkins and a celebrity wall of famous guests. It’s a great contrast to have a chippy placed in Mayfair, the home of many luxury brands. It’s quintessentially British and it’s quintessentially Lucy Sparrow. Until 14th September, free.
Tiyana Mitchell: Conversations Across Time at Larkin Durey
Taking her grandfather’s old black-and-white photographs of his travels, Tiyana Mitchell creates large and small-scale paintings based on this record of a life she never knew – her grandfather died when she was six. It’s a great way of connecting through time, and even the colour palette she has chosen has a sepia tone to it. I also enjoyed the artist’s fixation on shoes, as they feature prominently in her work. Until 29th August, free.
Varshga Premarasa at Niru Ratnam
These paintings are composites of snapshot memories, so seemingly incongruous images come together into single paintings. A man lies asleep while a line of pigeons perch above him, but the wire they should be sitting on appears to be missing. Meanwhile, in the background, a spectral figure drives a tractor towards the scene. The artist is of Tamil heritage, and while she never experienced the civil war in Sri Lanka, she has relatives who lived through that traumatic period, and these memories mix with her own. Until 9th August, free.
Motorbike Paddy, Emily Kam Kngwarray and other utopias at Rebecca Hossack Gallery
Indigenous art from Australia is finally having its moment, and Rebecca Hossack Gallery has been championing this work for decades. It was the first gallery to show Emily Kam Kngwarray’s work in London and her first solo outside of Australia. In this show, she has combined her work with that of other artists from the same area to showcase the diversity of art from that region. Until 30th August, free.
All images are copyright of the respective artist and gallery. Lucy Sparrow photo: Alun Callender. Kathleen Ryan photo: Maris Hutchinson.
