12 contemporary art exhibitions you have to see in early 2023 all are in London except where stated.
1 Phyllida Barlow, Rachel Whiteread, Alison Wilding- Hurly Burly, Gagosian Paris
Gagosian Paris will present an exhibition of sculpture by Phyllida Barlow, Rachel Whiteread, and Alison Wilding. Hurly-burly realizes the artists’ long-standing desire to collaborate on an exhibition.
Hurly-burly features several works by each artist, providing viewers with a rare opportunity to compare their diverse but interconnected approaches. It is presented not as a conversation between the works themselves, but rather as a record of an ongoing exchange between the personalities and visions behind them. None of the artists saw or discussed what the others were making during the run-up to the exhibition. January 19th–March 4th, 2023 MORE
2 Joseph Beuys, 40 Years of Drawing, Thaddaeus Ropac
Presenting almost 100 works on paper from the Joseph Beuys Estate for the first time in the UK, Joseph Beuys: 40 Years of Drawing is the first major exhibition dedicated solely to the artist’s drawings to take place in London for 30 years. 19th January—22nd March 2023 MORE
3 People Make Television, Raven Row
Raven Row re-opens after a five-year hiatus with an exhibition of DIY television from the 1970s. Remarkably, much of this emerged from a fringe department of the BBC – the Community Programme Unit (CPU). Set up in 1972, the CPU provided a camera crew and studio, and handed over complete editorial control, to groups and individuals with ‘voices, attitudes and opinions’ hitherto ‘unheard or seriously neglected’, so they could make their own programmes. 28th January to 26th March 2023 MORE
4 Awol Erizku, Cosmic Drill, Ben Brown Fine Arts
Ben Brown Fine Arts to open Awol Erizku’s Cosmic Drill in the New Year, their third solo exhibition of Los Angeles-based artist. The exhibition follows his highly acclaimed shows with Ben Brown Fine Arts, Slow Burn (Hong Kong, 2018) and Make America Great Again (London, 2017). This exhibition will unveil an alluring new body of work that converges the mediums of painting, photography and sculpture while harnessing myriad influences including street markings, hip-hop music, basketball, dice games, and NASA telescopic data. 27th January – 6th April 2023 MORE
5 Imi Knoebel, Once Upon a Time, White Cube Bermondsey
Imi Knoebel presents three new painting series and a never-before-seen installation in a major exhibition at White Cube Bermondsey. Made of thickly brushed acrylic paint on shaped brass, copper and aluminium panels, the artist’s new paintings showcase the latest developments in his ever-evolving engagement with non-representational imagery. 8th February – 26th March 2023 MORE
6 The New Bend Curated by Legacy Russell, Hauser & Wirth Somerset
Curated by Legacy Russell, Executive Director & Chief Curator of The Kitchen, ‘The New Bend’ travels from Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles to Somerset. The exhibition brings together 13 contemporary artists working in the raced, classed and gendered traditions of quilting and textile practice.
Opening celebrations: Saturday 28th January 2023, 12 – 2 pm 28th Jan – 8th May 2023 MORE
7 INSIDE, Thorp Stavri & Two Temple Place
Developed from a Summer 2022 research residency at Two Temple Place, this four-week exhibition will showcase 10 contemporary artists working in sculpture, installation, painting, photography, VR and film. Each artist has produced a brand new body of work in response to the eccentric architecture of Two Temple Place and its complex historic narratives, using the artists’ responses to the building and its ideological challenges to shape work for its rooms. The artists presenting work as part of Inside are: Josephine Chime, John Costi, Jack Evans, Chloe Louise Lawrence, Gabriela Pelczarska, Joshua Phillips, Sabrina Shah, Yambe Tam, Sam Williams and Yui Yamamoto. Conceived & curated by Thorp Stavri 28th January 2023 – 26th February MORE
8 Jonathan Baldock, we are flowers of one garden, Stephen Friedman
Centred on themes of nature and the cycle of life, this highly personal exhibition draws inspiration from Baldock’s relationship with his mother and her garden. The artist brings together a new body of work comprising ceramics, sculptures and wall hangings. Baldock examines the spectrum of human emotion, brutally and blissfully reflecting on what it means to be alive and how we find our place on Earth.
Private view: Thursday 19 January, 6–8pm 20th January – 25th February 2023 MORE
9 Lulu Bennett, ALIVE IN ACTUAL TIME, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery
Two women in white bikinis emerge from the shimmering spray of waves. With their perfect, pearly-white smiles and smooth, sun-kissed skin, it could almost be an advert for a swimsuit campaign and yet the image is split apart by a wide strip of rippling purple, yellow and blue. This vivid channel of swirling paint is evocative of both the sea at night and of a liminal space or passageway, leading beyond the surface into deeper, mystical realm.
Private View: Saturday 7th January 2023 3.00 – 6pm 7th January – 4th February 2023 MORE
10 Ludovica Gioscia, Follical Symphony, VITRINE
‘Follicle Symphony’ is Ludovica Gioscia’s third solo show with the gallery exploring the experience of IVF and pregnancy in her practice and philosophy. The exhibition presents a new body of mixed media work by the London-based Italian artist created in 2022 during several stages of her pregnancy.
20th January, 2023 – 8th April 2023 MORE
11 Julian Opie, Lisson Gallery
With a practice that encompasses painting, sculpture, billboard posters, LED screens and large-scale public works across a diverse range of mediums, Opie’s distinct pictorial language has developed from an acute observation of his surroundings, allowing him to distil an infinite number of influences and visual references into a reduced, symbolic representation of the world. February 2023- April 2023 MORE
12 Distant Voices, Galerie Max Hetzler Paris
Galerie Max Hetzler will open Distant Voices, a group exhibition uniting Ai Weiwei, Leilah Babirye, Simone Fattal, and Adam Pendleton. The exhibition will reveal the ways in which political events shape individual lives and embark us on a journey aiming at breaking free from various forms of authoritarianism.
Art Opening January, 14th, 6—8 pm. January, 14th 2023 until February, 25th 2023 MORE
