Top ten art exhibitions
Mark Hudson from http://www.telegraph.co.uk
picks the 10 exhibitions to look out for in the coming months, from Edinburgh to Folkestone, Koons to Kahlo, parks to palazzi.
1 Michael Craig-Martin: New Painting and Sculpture
The godfather of British conceptual art takes to the Wiltshire hills with startling “drawn sculptures”, images of everyday objects, seen in stark coloured outline against classic English parkland.
2 Venice Biennale
The world’s greatest meeting place of art and artists now stretches from the official site to every corner of La Serenissima, with Britain represented by sinister installation artist Mike Nelson.
3 RA Summer Show
Centred on a forecourt installation by Jeff Koons, this year’s Summer Show eschews the chic, minimalist displays of recent years, with selected galleries packed to the rafters in homage to the traditional “salon hang”.
4 The Vorticists
Britain’s only bona fide manifesto-waving modern art movement revisited in a riot of machine-age forms and primal patterns. Talents of the order of Jacob Epstein, Gaudier-Brzeska and Wyndham Lewis took part in this phenomenon.
5 Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril
Focusing on a key work from the Courtauld’s collection, Jane Avril in the Entrance to the Moulin Rouge, this show explores the relationship between the diminutive artist and his troubled dancer muse.
6 Treasures of Heaven
The medieval passion for relics explored through a treasure trove of “real” sacred objects – including alleged fragments of the Crown of Thorns and True Cross – and the opulent, sometimes erotic, objects created to hold them.
7 René Magritte: the Pleasure Principle
The life and obsessions of the Belgian Surrealist, focusing on lesser-known aspects of his art, with early graphic design and films alongside major paintings.
8 Folkestone Triennial
Nineteen international artists and one local take over the Kent port, exploring the wonder and unease of displacement in site-specific works dotted through the streets and beaches.
9 Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera
The passionate, on-off relationship of the tormented, feministic icon and the larger-than-life mural painter viewed through vibrant works from a key Mexican collection, seen for the first time in Britain.
10 Tony Cragg
Less well-known than his contemporaries Gormley and Kapoor, the sculptor is no less vital a figure. Concentrating on work from the past decade, this show also has key early works.
