9 must-see exhibitions opening in February 2024 in London
Once you’re over dry January and ready to face the world again, but the weather is still wintry, head to the nearest gallery. February is a huge month for new exhibitions, and this year I really can’t decide where to start. Fortunately, we have until summer to catch most of these.
Tara Donovan, Untitled (Mylar), 2011_2018. Mylar and hot glue. Dimensions Variable. Installation view, MCA Denver. Photo_ Christopher Burke. Courtesy the artist and Pace Gallery.
When Forms Come Alive, 7 February – 6 May, Hayward Gallery
Is it solid or is it fluid? Try not to touch it when you visit Hayward’s latest showcase of one artistic medium. They’ve done paintings, they’ve done ceramics, now it is time for contemporary sculpture. Sixty years of it, represented by 21 international artists. The title suggests there is magic involved – or maybe trickery. No matter, this will be a place to suspend your expectations and give in to the new experiences that art can elicit.
Barbara Kruger, Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You., Installation view, Los Angeles County Museum of Art – LACMA, Los Angeles, March 20-July 17, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Sprüth Magers, Photo: Museum Associates/LACMA
Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I mean Me. I mean You., Serpentine Galleries, 1 Feb – 17 March
What does advertising say about us as consumers? Kruger started working with that question 50 years ago. Now advertising is tailored to us in ever-more unsettling ways, Kruger’s 1980s slogans ‘I shop, therefore I am’ and ‘Your body is a battleground’ have suddenly gained a new relevance. She did not stop there though: her new works directly address online content. This American artist, used to exhibiting her work on buildings and billboards, is having her first retrospective in the UK. If you care about words, images and how they affect us, then you really should go.
Teresa Margolles, american Juju for the Tapestry of Truth, 2015 Courtesy the artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich/ Paris
Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, Barbican, 13 February – 26 May
Do you have a favourite t-shirt? Textiles occupy a special place in human history. They are always there, next to our body. But they also represent us – our outward image as our clothes, or flags of our countries. They also are an accessible, influential art form. With textiles one can make something small and intimate, or monumentally grand. This exhibition brings together 50 international artists that use textile art to weave messages of both violence and hope.
Frank Auerbach (b.1931), Head of Julia II, 1960, Charcoal and chalk on paper. Private Collection © the artist, courtesy of Frankie Rossi Art Projects, London
Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads, The Courtauld, 9 February – 27 May
What makes an image haunting? Is it the colour choice, or the way the sitter is positioned, or could it be the date of the work? Auerbach’s post-war drawings have their sitters looking down with eyes half-closed. Layers and layers of charcoal enclose the figures in dirty darkness – is it outside or inside them? If you want to see how much human misery a drawing can encompass, there are many examples here. It is the first time these drawings have been brought together as a group.
Mónica de Miranda, Sun rise (detail), 2023, inkjet print on cotton paper. Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Madrid.
Soulscapes, Dulwich Picture Gallery, 14 February – 2 June
Where do we belong? Is it to a place or a people? This exhibition brings together artists from the African Diaspora who look at themes such as belonging and memory through landscape but not quite as you know it. There will be paintings, but also photography, film, textile, collage and a site-specific installation. This sounds like a show for the soul.
Kara Walker Hon RA, no world, from An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters, 2010, Etching with aquatint, sugar-lift, spit-bite and drypoint on paper, 68.6 x 99.1 cm, British Museum, London, © Kara Walker, courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co. and Sprüth Magers
Entangled Pasts, 1768 – Now: Art, Colonialism and Change, Royal Academy, 3 February – 28 April
What can one do about colonialism? One can stage an exhibition. As Royal Academy is doing. From Turner to Shonibare, this show brings 50 artists/100 works together from the last 250 years. It will focus on art’s role in shaping opinions – about empire, slavery, resistance and abolition – but also envisioning the future. Part of the RA’s mission to deal with its own colonial past, Entangled Pasts promises to deliver both powerful art works and powerful messages.
John Singer Sargent, Lady Helen Vincent, Viscountess d'Abernon, 1904, Oil paint on canvas; 158.8 x 108.0 cm, Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama; Museum purchase with funds provided by John Bohorfoush, the 1984 Museum Dinner and Ball, and the Museum Store, Photo Sean Pathasema
Sargent and Fashion, Tate Britain, 22 Feb – 7 July
Do you like fashion? How about beautiful paintings? You are in luck, as both will be in abundance here. Almost 60 works that concentrate as much on costume as the sitter will be shown alongside some of the original clothing. Treat this as a masterclass in styling and image creation, or just a pleasant outing.
Yoko Ono, Add Colour (Refugee Boat), 2016, at MAXXI Foundation. Photo © Musacchio, Ianniello & Pasqualini
Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, Tate Modern, 15 Feb – 1 September
Do you know who Yoko Ono is? An artist with seven decades of practice. An activist for peace and the environment. This exhibition brings together her artworks and records of her activist projects – and the audience will be invited to participate. Discover her early performances, works on paper, objects, and music. I am looking forward to her trademark ability to combine humour and poetry.
Roman scutum (shield) - Yale University Art Gallery, Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos
Legion: Life in the Roman Army, The British Museum, 1 February – 23 June
How often do you think about the Roman Empire? Recently this question went viral on social media. I think of the Romans a fair bit (even though I am not a man). But how much do we really know about them? We have heard of the Caesars and generals, of the advancements in science and technology, of the coliseum and the gladiators. How about just regular blokes? Yes, there were some of those too. This exhibition looks closely at the lives of ordinary soldiers, taking the surviving letter of one as inspiration.