Art shows to leave the house for this month

IMPLICIT TENSIONS: MAPPLETHORPE NOW, GUGGENHEIM, NEW YORK

On 9 March 1989, New York luminary Robert Mapplethorpe passed away from complications due to Aids. Marking 30 years since the artist’s passing is the Guggenheim’s year-long exhibition, Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe Now. The show draws on the museum’s extensive Mapplethorpe archive – that houses over 200 photographs and objects from the late artist – to curate two sequential shows. Part one (on until 10 July 2019) is a Mapplethorpe retrospective showing work at all phases of the photographer's life, including his early Polaroids, collages, and mixed media works. Through leather-clad portraits and classic nudes, the show will also display the artist’s exploration of New York’s BDSM and queer underground communities.

Phase two (24 July 2019 – 5 January 2020) will explore Mapplethorpe’s legacy on portraiture and self-representation through the lens of contemporary artists who reference his work and explore the same themes through different angles of race and sexuality. Photographers Catherine Opie and Paul Mpagi Sepuya will feature alongside painter Lyle Ashton Harris, and more. 

Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe Now runs at New York’s Guggenheim until 5 January 2020

SOUL OF A NATION, VARIOUS, THE BROAD, LOS ANGELES

Soul of a Nation caused a sensation when it launched at London’s Tate Modern in 2017. Since that time, it has enjoyed success in New York’s Brooklyn Museum and now it is opening at The Broad in Los Angeles. Featuring over 60 artists, Soul of a Nation charts the contributions of black artists from the civil rights era to the present day. Many of the artists included in the show hail from Los Angeles, making this stop on its tour a vital must-see.

Soul of a Nation runs at Los Angeles’ The Broad from 23 March – 1 September 2019

GENETIC AUTOMATICA, LARRY ACHIAMPONG AND DAVID BLANDY, ARTS CATALYST, LONDON

Described as an “ambitious body of film-based works”, Genetic Automatica sees Larry Achiampong and David Blandy unpick a “complex history of classification and segregation”. Employing the theory of evolution, as well as the relationship between Charles Darwin and John Edmonstone, the naturalist’s taxidermy teacher and a freed slave, the artists use video, text, and animation, as well as different depictions of skin to “explore race and identity in an age of avatars, video games, and DNA Ancestry testing”.

Genetic Automatica runs at London’s Arts Catalyst until 30 March 2019

THE CONDITIONS, PAUL MPAGI SEPUYA, TEAM GALLERY, NEW YORK CITY

Paul Mpagi Sepuya’s The Conditions showcases images of close friends, peers, and lovers taken in the intimacy of the artist’s studio. In these, Mpagi Sepuya aims to show the “collaborative and reflexive” process which underpins his portraits, captured through the lens of blackness and queerness.

Paul Mpagi Sepuya runs at New York’s Team Gallery until 13 April 2019

DAVID BAILEY: THE SIXTIES, GAGOSIAN, LONDON

In the 1960s, British fashion photographer David Bailey’s iconoclastic style shot him to recognition through his work for British Vogue and the release of his first photo book Box of Pin-Ups, which featured stars like Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger, among others. The Gagosian’s latest exhibition, David Bailey: The Sixties, pays homage to this defining era by exhibiting portraits and little known contact sheets from the decade. In the show, the Rolling Stones appear playfully in a contact sheet, while the inquisitive nature of artists like Warhol and Man Ray beams through black and white portraiture.

David Bailey: The Sixties runs at London’s Gagosian Davies Street until 30 March 2019

FASHIONING THE BLACK BODY, VARIOUS, PROJECTS+GALLERY, ST LOUIS

Projects+Gallery’s latest show, Fashioning the Black Body, opens a dialogue about the space between black skin and clothing, between the industry and the commonly fetishised and commodified black body, and the space used to claim one’s own identity. “Far from the reaches of frivolity – a domain to which fashion is usually relegated – Black people have continually engaged the fashion object beyond its utilitarian functions into a device of pride, protection, resistance and camouflage,” states curator Dario Calmese.

To explore this space, artists such as portrait painter Kehinde Wiley, installation artist Jacolby Satterwhite, and artists Mickalene Thomas and Chris Ofili and more will show a mixed range of artworks including paintings, photographs, and mixed media collages.

Fashioning the Black Body runs at St Louis Projects+Gallery space from 15 Mar 2019 – 26 Apr 2019

DRAWN TOGETHER AGAIN, VARIOUS, FLAG ART FOUNDATION, NEW YORK

In 2008, New York’s Flag Art Foundation hosted Drawn Together: a survey that explored the possibilities of drawing as an artistic medium. Over 10 years later, the museum returns with Drawn Together Again, a comprehensive study of the contemporary state of drawing and how the medium has transformed since 2008. At the core of the show is a 50-foot salon that unites unexpected works to create a new dialogue on the art of drawing. Classic Jenny Saville works will appear with works from Robert Rauschenberg, and Lorna Simpson, to name a few.

Drawn Together Again runs at New York’s Flag Art Foundation until 18 May

ÅBN MIN LYSNING, PIPILOTTI RIST, LOUISIANA MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, DENMARK

From being an inspiration to artist Martine Syms to taking part in the New York Museum’s monumental Strange Days exhibition last year, it's fair to say Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist’s immersive video and sound installations are some of the most innovative exports coming from Northern Europe. Now, the artist gets her first major presentation in Scandinavia, Åbn min lysning (Open My Glade), at Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The show will feature a new site-specific work, Reversed Eyelid, which creates a 54-metre long visual installation whose visuals are intended to show the imagery behind eyelids. “By placing us behind the imitated eyelid, Pipilotti Rist reduces us into tiny units inside a body with a radical change in proportions as consequence,” reads the show’s press release.

Åbn min lysning runs at Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art until 23 June at Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

WILLIAM FARR, SELFRIDGES ART TANK, LONDON

London-based artist William Farr – whose practice uses found materials to create temporary works – is currently taking up residency at Selfridges at the department store’s Art Tank. Passers-by can watch as Farr transforms the space by creating a different piece each week over the month-long happening. The evolving installation will culminate in interactive sessions at the end of each week, which invites the public to get involved (for free) in creating small sculptures under the tutelage of Farr himself. A week of “organised collaboration” will also invite artists such as Helen Downey, aka Unskilled Worker, and Jack Appleyard to interact with Farr’s works, the new works will then be used in life drawing sessions run by Sketch Sesh.

William Farr will be at Selfridges Art Tank until 31 March 2019. You can sign up for the audience sessions here

VOYAGE AROUND MY ROOM, VARIOUS, MUNICIPAL ART CENTRE, ATHENS

Taking inspiration from Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, and poet Xavier de Maistre's classic book Voyage Autour de Ma Chambre (1794), Voyage Around My Room unites artists from across the globe to consider the importance of personal space. Taking place at Athens Municipal Art Centre, Voyage will feature works from Sophia Al Maria, Jonas Mekas, Amalia Ulman, and local Greek artists as they interrogate the idea of personal space and its sociological and political transformations since these early writings. Artists will interrogate ideas on ‘room’ in the social media era, personal space as an allusion of self-expression and equality, and the room as a collection space and an artist’s retreat.

Voyage Around My Room runs at Athens Municipal Art Centre from 18 March – 21 April 2019

BRAVE, BEAUTIFUL OUTLAWS, DONNA GOTTSCHALK, LESLIE LOHMAN MUSEUM, NEW YORK

Across the 1970s, radical lesbian movements which started in the 1950s began taking to the streets to protest for their freedom. American photographer Donna Gottschalk used her camera to document both life on the frontline, and the more intimate moments which defined the private life of radical lesbianism in the 70s. Gottschalk’s private eye into this world is now on display at New York’s Leslie Lohman gallery. Brave, Beautiful Outlaws traces radical lesbian life across New York and California during this era, including her time in lesbian-separatist communities. Intricate self-portraits are shown alongside portraits of lovers, friends and activists, giving viewers rare insight into the intimacy of the fight for queer freedom.

Brave, Beautiful Outlaws runs at New York’s Lohman Gallery until 17 March 2019

ERICKA BECKMAN & MARIANNA SIMNETT, FACT, LIVERPOOL

Across their careers, American filmmaker Ericka Beckman and emerging artist Marianna Simnett have used systematically embedded narratives and language to challenge the patriarchy through technology and storytelling. Now, they come together to show works at Fact Liverpool from 29 March – 16 June 2019. Beckman uses the language, imagery, and style of early computer games and the embedded structures and rules of gaming, to explore society’s enforced gender norms against women. Simnett will draw on mythology to create fairy tales addressing themes of morality and repression.

Erica Beckman & Marianna Simnett runs at Liverpool’s Fact from 29 March – 16 June 2019

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT, BRANT FOUNDATION, NEW YORK CITY

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s art has returned to New York’s East Village which it was most at home during his lifetime with an ongoing show currently taking place in a building once home to artist Walter De Maria. The Brant Foundation’s inaugural exhibition runs across four floors and features a collection of Basquiat’s works from its own holdings – its founders have been collecting the artist since the 80s – as well well as international museums and private collections. While tickets are currently sold out, there is still an opportunity to join the waitlist.

Jean-Michel Basquiat runs at New York’s Brant Foundation until 15 May 2019

PRE-FALL ‘17, JONATHAN HOROWITZ, SADIE COLES HQ, LONDON

Multimedia artist Jonathan Horowitz is currently using London's Sadie Coles HQ as a space to explore some of the “defining issues of contemporary politics”. From Gucci to Jay Z and Beyoncé and emojis, Horowitz traverses ideas of political critique, humour, mass culture and art history through video, installation, and digital printing.

Pre-Fall ‘17 runs at London’s Sadie Coles HQ until 6 April 2019

THING INDESCRIBABLE, JENNY HOLZER, GUGGENHEIM, BILBAO

A survey of British artist Jenny Holzer will open next week at the Guggenheim Bilbao titled Thing Indescribable. The exhibition features past works such as the famous Truisms series, new works such as oil paintings, watercolours, and robotic assemblies, site-specific works which will respond to Frank Gehry's architecture, and sa series of light projections on the building’s facade. It will also include works on paper and sculpture by artists who Holzer has cited as influences; Louise Bourgeois, Kiki Smith, and Nancy Spero, to name a few. Thing Indescribable marks the artist’s second showing at the institution, having first exhibited her work at the institution in 1997 when she created Installation for Bilbao in the museum’s atrium, which featured nine luminous columns each measuring more than 12 meters high.

Thing Indescribable will run at Guggenheim Bilbao from 22 March – 9 September 2019

DOROTHEA TANNING, TATE MODERN, LONDON

Dorothea Tanning, like many of her female contemporaries, changed the visuality of surrealism by imbuing an honest female gaze. Celebrating Tanning’s impact is a current retrospective at Tate Modern which surveys 25 years of the artists work. From paintings to sculpture, the show unites over 100 Tanning pieces from her early erotic paintings to her shift into abstract surrealism in the 1950s and sculpture from the 1960s. The show’s most immersive aspect is Tannings 1970-3 room size installation “Hotel du Pavot”, which features bodies growing from the walls.

Dorothea Tanning runs at London’s Tate Modern until 9 June 2019

THE RENAISSANCE NUDE, VARIOUS, ROYAL ACADEMY, LONDON

London’s Royal Academy is tracing the roots of the nude painting through the works of Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Titian, and Raphael, to name a few. Taking viewers back to the 15th and 16th centuries – “a pivotal time for the nude in western art” – The Renaissance Nude brings together paintings, illustrations, statuettes, and anatomical studies to shine a light onto its art history.

The Renaissance Nude runs at London’s Royal Academy until 2 June 2019

FOAM TALENT, VARIOUS, RED HOOK LABS, NEW YORK CITY

Foam Talent hits its second stop on a global tour when it lands in New York City on 21 March. The show exhibits 25 new photography talents and launched in Amsterdam in January. It will launch in London in May before ending in Frankfurt.

Foam Talent New York runs at Red Hook Labs from 21 March – 8 April 2019

THE ANTHROPOPHAGIC EFFECT, JEFFREY GIBSON, NEW MUSEUM, NEW YORK CITY

Artist Jeffrey Gibson’s The Anthropophagic Effect, currently on at The New Museum – where he is the artist in residence – looks at the “material histories and futures of several indigenous handcraft techniques and aesthetics” which have been practised by various tribes before European settlers arrived.

The Anthropophagic Effect runs at New York’s The New Museum until 9 June 2019