Tabish Khan, the @LondonArtCritic, picks his Top 5 Art Exhibitions to see in London now. If you are after more exhibitions, check out last week’s top 5.
What’s even better than a new gallery opening in London? When it opens with a cracking show. Interval in Clerkenwell has a great concept of combining contemporary art with the historical artworks it references. Twelve floral digital artworks, and a video piece downstairs, by Petra Cortright, are combined with historical artworks along a similar theme, all consigned from Old Master dealers. It’s a great show, and a great model. I’m already looking forward to future exhibitions. Until 20th December.
Noemie Goudal: And yet it still moves at Edel Assanti
Nothing is quite as it seems in these landscapes by Noemie Goudal. The final room features a video of a rock formation that periodically explodes, revealing it’s just an image, and a different image lies beyond it. It’s a hypnotic and illusory piece that you just can’t stop watching. In the other rooms, she creates images of vegetation as if seen through opaque glass and a projector illuminates an image of a rock with slivers of light. Until 12th December.
Jess Allen: We Want to Believe in Impossible Things at Unit London
What can we tell from a person’s shadow? We only see the silhouettes of these individuals so we must build our narrative based on these, and make assumptions without ever seeing the bodies these shadows belong to. They are sumptuous paintings and also make me think of the concept of the shadow self and the allegory of Plato’s cave where those trapped in the cave must makes sense of the world from the shadows on the walls. Until 29th November.
Tannhauser Gate by Paul Benney at St. Marylebone Parish Church
How do you give the traditional church triptych altarpiece a contemporary twist? Paul Benney has painted the traditional religious motifs of the descent from the cross, the entombment of Christ, and mourning figures and placed them alongside illuminated signs from modern society such as those for a lift or emergency exit. The title of the exhibition is based on a Blade Runner quote and there is something sci-fi about these paintings behind a a series that shows a candle slowly burning down to nothing. Until 19th November.
Marie-Claire Messouma Manlanbien: Mémoires des corps at Gasworks
A cosmic textile artwork with a uterus at its centre, ceramic vessels on the floor and lines of beads hanging from the ceiling. Adapting traditions from her Creole heritage and reflecting on stories of intergenerational trauma she has created immersive installations that allow us to step in her world that brings together then natural and man-made worlds. Until 14th December.
All images copyright and courtesy of the respective artist and gallery. Noemie Goudal photo: Tom Carter. Gasworks photo: Peter Otto.
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Art Critic for both FAD and Londonist. See as many exhibitions as possible and write reviews, opinion pieces and a weekly top 5 for FAD.