The art world follows a very similar calendar to the school year, and September is accompanied by the enthusiasm and excitement of a new season. Here are some seasonal London highlights not to be missed.
Pierre Huyghe and Paul McCarthy at Hauser & Wirth
Sept. 13 – Nov. 1
You couldn’t open the autumn season with a bigger duet of artists. Hauser & Wirth are filling their giant Savile Row spaces with solo exhibitions by the best of Paris and L.A. Whatever the content is, you know it is going to be good.
Yayoi Kusama at Victoria Miro
Sept. 16 – Dec. 4
This solo show is devoted to Kusama’s second love outside of spots and dots: pumpkins. Expect graphic painted pumpkins, mirrored tiled pumpkins, and sculptural squash. This is the ideal art motif to cushion the coldness of autumn; it is also a reference to the artist’s own childhood during WWII where the vegetable was over-abundant. See the show.
Neїl Beloufa at ICA London
Sept. 26 - Nov. 16
French young gun Neïl Beloufa is creating a signature sculptural installation around his new film work, created at the Banff Centre, this September. (The ICA also has a seriously good three day off-site event at the Old Selfridges Hotel during Frieze reinforcing the new fresh energy at the space.) See the show.
Ben Rivers at Kate MacGarry
Sept. 19 – Oct. 25
Video, installation, and photography are all mediums Ben Rivers has experimented with in his exploration of outsiders, genre cinema, and the medium of film itself. The results brim with atmosphere, nuance, and a particular sense of Britishness.
Turner Prize at Tate Britain
Sept. 30 – Jan. 4
After a couple of years travelling around institutions across the country, Britain’s biggest art prize returns to the Tate Britain this September. This year’s crop includes the political film work of Duncan Campbell, Tris Vonna-Michell’s take on performance and poetics, Ciara Phillips’ screenprint workshops and James Richards’ manipulated VHS art pieces.
Kerry James Marshall at David Zwirner, 24 Grafton St
Oct. 11 – Nov. 22
This is Marshall’s first solo show at a London private space after his lauded touring institution UK shows in 2006. Based in Chicago, Marshall has touches on all mediums but it hard to surpass when it comes to paint and the exploration of African American identity and the body. Fingers crossed he will unveil new, epic history paintings as well as graphic, collage, and photographic work.
Marvin Gaye Chetwynd at Studio Voltaire
Oct. 12 – Dec. 14
Following on from a live taster event on September 6th, Marvin Gaye Chetwynd (formerly know as the Turner Prize nominee Spartacus) will be exhibiting her new surreal psychedelic art film at Studio Voltaire this October. Anne Collier’s beautiful, muted take to the photographic archive will be showing in a parallel exhibition in the same space.
Gerhard Richter at Marian Goodman
Oct. 15 – Dec. 20
Goodman is taking the opening of her new London space designed by David Adjaye in Soho’s Golden Square very, very seriously with a show from the world’s most expensive living artist Gerhard Richter. The content of the show is under wraps but imagine something big.
Andro Wekua at Sprüth Magers
Oct. 14 – Nov. 15
Based between Switzerland and Berlin, Andro Wekua has created a unique lexicon of vibrant colour, magazine ephemera, mannequins, and architectural models that almost have the art equivalent of the films of David Lynch. What makes his strange, often disturbing work, so interesting is how it blends pop culture with references to his own turbulent, political experiences growing up in Georgia.
MIRRORCITY: 20 Artists from London at the Hayward Gallery
Oct. 14 – Jan. 4
How do you define a city through its artists? This show brings together hot emerging talents to create an image of London art now including young talents like Lloyd Corporation and LuckyPDF, a good crop of female artists like Anne Hardy, Laure Prouvost, and Helen Marten, and strong, established names like Susan Hiller and John Stezaker.
