This year’s must-see shows range from a Nordic Pavilion exploring transgender spaces to a compelling Lebanese project confronting the realities of ecocide
Two new exhibitions – from Bo Lee and Workman, and Artwin Gallery – open on 25 April, while Lehmann Maupin’s curated study of artists’ materials continues
Returning to No.9 Cork Street, Artwin Gallery brings GATHER!S, an exhibition of works by Mika Plutitskaya and Olesia Lavrinenko, dedicated to painting and women. Curated by Anya Zhurba, these new bodies of work remind us of the long history of struggle experienced by female artists, especially that which is still present in many corners of the world. Plutitskaya and Lavrinenko have their own non-linear personal story and relationship with painting. Their practice is more about effort than expressive gesture, about attempts and sometimes failures rather than envisioning a pre-formulated goal.
Bo Lee and Workman, based in Bruton, Somerset, present Beneath the Swamp Cypress, a solo exhibition of work by Kathryn Maple. As if submerged by nature, Maple’s landscapes, fresh with a sense of discovery and vibrancy, bring us closer to the forms at the essence of the natural world. Captivated by the lumps and clusters found in nature, this group of paintings takes these obscure forms and their environment as its starting point, experimenting with the depiction of their individual and collective potential. Abstract and surreal yet distinctively intimate, the striking ‘knee’ like structures interact and develop relationships as Maple’s verdant forms erupt in a chorus of conversation.
Artwin Gallery returns to No.9 Cork Street with Floaters, a solo show of works by Dima Rebus. The exhibition’s title refers to the anonymous swimmers that are the subject of Rebus’ expansive watercolours whilst also considering the ophthalmological meaning of the word: barely perceptible spots, threads or cobwebs which can bob before our eyes. These floaters are caused by tiny proteins and cell structures within the eye, the shadows of which are cast onto the retina.
Frieze Studios and Apsara StudiopresentClay, seeds and other ancestors, an exhibition of work by Lucia Pizzani. Curated by Jenn Ellis, the exhibition looks to highlight the artist’sexpressive practice that exploresmigration,language and materiality through the voices of plants and ancient practices.Through her use of clay andseeds, across sculpture, works on paper,performance and video, Pizzani weaves together narratives andcontemplations from different temporalities around human and botanical legacies.
Lehmann Maupinpresents Beyond Material, a groupshow curated by the gallery’s London-based Partner Isabella Icoz.Beyond Material brings together work from nine artists within thegallery’s program, including Kader Attia, McArthur Binion, ToddGray, Nicholas Hlobo,ShirazehHoushiary, Liza Lou, Kim YunShin, Do Ho Suh, and Billie Zangewa. The exhibition is centredaround the unique approach each of these artists takes to materialwithin their practices—from Houshiary’s use of water andaquacryl to create fluid, ethereal forms, to Lou’s decades-longengagement with glass beads as a primary sculptural medium, toZangewa’s hand-stitched silk collages, which she imbues with asense of warm domesticity.
Lehmann Maupin presents a two-part solo exhibition of work by pioneering Korean artist Kim Yun Shin, which will span both No.9 Cork Street and the gallery’s New York location. Growing up amidst the backdrop of Korea’s tumultuous history in the 20th century, Kim Yun Shin has established herself as a formative figure in the post-war South Korean art scene, overcoming societal norms to carve out a space for herself as a first-generation woman sculptor.The London component – which marks the artist’s debut exhibition in the United Kingdom – will present a survey of the artist’s oeuvre, including both paintings and sculptures from the 1990s to the present.
Vadehra Art Gallery presents the first London solo exhibition of Indian contemporary artist Astha Butail. A Transcendent Force, curated by Linsey Young (Women in Revolt! Art, Activism and the Women’s Movement in the UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain, London), features a collection of 7 recent installations and sculptures, with works on paper, textile and wood, rendered in a predominantly monochromatic palette using mixed media.
THIS IS NO FANTASY presents Walking Between Two Worlds, a series of paintings by First Nations Australian artist Johnathon World Peace Bush. Painted in natural pigments in the three colours of Tiwi land (white, yellow, red), Bush’s works reimagine anthropological images of Tiwi people and Colonial figureheads, often immortalised in statues, each covered in ceremonial ornaments and body paint design. Applying Western imagery alongside a Tiwi visual language that predates the Renaissance, Bush’s work reflects on the complexities of history and heritage.
Lehmann Maupin presents like a god i love all things, an exhibition of new paintings by British painter Billy Childish. Based in Kent, Childish’s artistic practice is wide-ranging and prolific. In addition to painting, the artist moves seamlessly between poetry and prose, punk rock, blues and folk music, photography, and printmaking. His paintings are often characterized by their vivid immediacy, painted directly on warm linen canvas using a rich, earthy palette of oil paint. The artist’s subjects are drawn from both his immediate environment—the North Kent landscape and members of his family—as well as further afield, including scenes of northern California and historical photographs, often appearing other-worldly or what Childish has described as dreamscapes.
Newchild Gallery, another returning Cork Street gallery, presents Penumbra, a group show of artists who each explore the liminal space between light and shadow, clarity and obscurity. Drawing on the tradition of chiaroscuro, the exhibition nods to the Old Masters’ understanding of light’s ability to define and transform. Chris Oh reinterprets this legacy through found objects, while James Owens and Viktor Mattsson engage with light as a vehicle for introspection and expression. Madeleine Bialke and Andrew Sendor’s works echo cinematic approaches, using illumination to heighten narrative and atmosphere. Kristian Touborg bridges analog and digital methods, reflecting on light’s dual role in tradition and innovation.
Jason Haam returns to No.9 Cork Street with Karma II, an exhibition of work by Jihyoung Han, Jungwook Kim, Mike Lee and Moka Lee, which runs concurrently with a group exhibition at Carlos/Ishikawa Unit 7 as part of Condo London. Jihyoung Han and Moka Lee are formidable young voices in contemporary Korean art, representing a generation with distinct perspectives and original expressions, while Jungwook Kim explores a complex interplay between physical, conceptual, and transcendental realities, and Mike Lee, a second-generation Korean American artist, creates works that deeply reflect his cultural heritage.
A collaborative journey into the world of Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE and DUNE: PART TWO.
Curated by Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser and Oscar-nominated actor Josh Brolin from their exploratory artistic memoir DUNE: EXPOSURES. Their remarkable ode to the art of filmmaking combines evocative photography and vivid prose to provide unique behind-the-scenes insights into the creation of director/storyteller Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE and DUNE: PART TWO.
TIN MAN ART presents Logical Absurdity, an exhibition of work by Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood. Following the work that Donwood and Yorke made collaboratively for The Smile’s first three albums, Logical Absurdity will feature over 20 works, including screen prints, linocuts, lithographs, paintings by Donwood, a painting by Yorke, and paintings and tapestries made by the pair working together.
The pair have worked in tandem for 30 years, creating a vast archive of visual material for Radiohead’s album covers, books and internet projects. The exhibitionwill also chart the magical nature of repetition and how a decades-long collaboration changes and responds to outside influences.
