Jac Leirner, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Brazilian artist Jac Leirner‘s first solo show in Scotland plays with ideas of repetition, obsession and addiction. She uses the same objects over and over again, combining them into sculptures that reveal the ‘material poetics of the mundane’. Also on show is a selection of watercolours – small works in which the artist layers a limited selection of colours over and over each other.
Until 22 October 2017, www.fruitmarket.co.uk
Giovanni da Rimini, National Gallery, London
This small exhibition of 10 works explores a key moment in the history of art, when emphasis on observation and realism was born. It includes loans of works by artists working in Rimini in the early 14th century, with the highlights being the only three surviving panel paintings by Giovanni da Rimini, including a masterpiece recently acquired by the National Gallery. The show reunites the paintings, a reconstruction never before seen in the UK.
Until 8 October 2017, www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Paper, Canvas, Neon, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool
The Grundy’s permanent collection dates back to 1911 when the gallery was established by local artists and polymaths John and Cuthbert Grundy. This exhibition showcases a selection of work from the collection and is split into three distinct sections: paper, canvas and neon. Highlights include Pablo Picasso’s Dove, which was used to illustrate the 1949 Paris Peace Congress and became an international symbol of peaceful political action. The neon room contains recent acquisitions of work by Tracey Emin and Joseph Kosuth, and long-term loans from David Batchelor.
Until 23 December 2017, www.grundyartgallery.com
Kader Attia, MIMA, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
Kader Attia‘s Dispossession features two slide projections showing objects alongside scenes associated with the colonization of Africa. The work investigates the Vatican’s holdings of art from Africa, much of which was plundered by Christian missionaries in the context of their evangelization efforts on the continent. Also on show is a video of interviews the artist conducted with two anthropologists, an art historian, a curator, a priest and a lawyer, who address the ethics of collecting in general and the moral debates around this holding in particular.
Until 8 October 2017, www.visitmima.com
Transient Space, Parafin, London
This group show features works by six artists exploring how we experience the contemporary urban environment. The exhibition takes its title from a previously unexhibited series of photographic collages made by Tim Head in the early 1980s that focus on dehumanised spaces captured by the artist during night-time walks around London. Also included is Melanie Manchot’s three-part video installation Tracer, which sees parkour runners using choreographed movements to re-frame a series of urban landscapes, along with works by Mike Ballard, Nathan Coley, Keith Coventry and Abigail Reynolds.
Until 16 September 2017, www.parafin.co.uk
Images:
1. Jac Leirner, 12 Reds, 12 Blues, 3 Yellows, 2016. Watercolour on paper, 47.5 x 40 x 3cm. Courtesy: the artist
2. Giovanni Da Rimini, The Vision of the Blessed Clare of Rimini, probably around 1333-40. © The National Gallery, London
3. Kader Attia, Dispossession, installation view.
4. Tim Head, Fugitive Space 3, hand tinted photographic collage, 33.2×48.2cm, 1982. Courtesy: Parafin
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