By way of celebrating the highly prestigious galleries we are honoured to work within, we wanted to take a little time out of our busy event schedules to explore some of the must-see exhibitions you won’t want to miss!
National Portrait Gallery’s Vogue 100: A Century of Style (pictured), runs from February to May 2016 and features photographers Lord Snowdon, David Bailey and Mario Testino; cultural icons Matisse to Picasso, Warhol to Hirst, Garbo to Paltrow, Nijinsky to Beckham, Lady Diana Cooper to Lady Diana Spencer; and fashion designers Chanel, Schiaparelli, Dior, Balenciaga, Saint-Laurent, Gaultier, McQueen. Vogue has assumed a central role on the cultural stage with a history spanning the most inventive decades in fashion and taste, the arts and society. It is also a prolific commissioner of portraiture and through the best of these images, the exhibition will celebrate the greatest moments in portrait photography, fashion and beauty.
This winter, the Serpentine Gallery presents an exhibition by Michael Craig-Martin which includes his vibrant and engaging representations of once familiar yet obsolete technology; laptops, games consoles, black-and-white televisions and incandescent lightbulbs that
highlight the increasing transience of technological innovation. From the earliest work in the show, a wall drawing first produced in 1981 (the same year that the first personal computer was made available), to a painting from 2014 that depicts the minimal lines of an iPhone, Craig-Martin’s work has recorded the profound impact that electronic technology has had on the way we consume and communicate.
Whitechapel Gallery’s Electronic Superhighway is a major exhibition bringing together over 100 works to show the impact of computer and Internet technologies on artists from the mid-1960s to the present day. The exhibition title is taken from a term coined in 1974 by South Korean video art pioneer Nam June Paik, who foresaw the potential of global connections through technology. Arranged in reverse chronological order, Electronic Superhighway begins with works made at the arrival of the new millennium, and ends with Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T), an iconic, artistic moment that took place in 1966. Featuring over 70 artists spanning 50 years, the exhibition explores key moments in the history of art and the Internet emerge as the exhibition travels back in time.
One of the last exhibitions held at Design Museum’s current Shad Thames site before it relocates to Kensington in November, Cycle Revolution celebrates the diversity of contemporary cycling in Britain from every day commuting to Olympic level competition and looks at where design and innovation may take the riders of the future. There are 77 incredible bikes on display including Sir Bradley Wiggins’s 2015 hour record bike and Sir Chris Hoy’s Great Britain cycling team London 2012 Olympic track bike. There are also opportunities to meet the UK’s best bicycle frame building artisans in the recreated bike builder’s workshop. According to The Times: “As an assembly of bicycle porn the Design Museum’s new Cycle Revolution is absolutely filthy.”
Somerset House’s galleries offer a wide range of exciting exhibitions this season. Recently launched and running until 28 February, there is Big Bang Data where artists, designers and innovators show how the data explosion is transforming our world. Illustration fans can marvel at TIN TIN: Hergé’s Masterpiece until 31 January, while photography buffs will love Through a Lens – Saul Leiter and Carol which closes on 10 January. Traditionalists will adore the Courtauld Gallery’s Collection and Bridget Riley: Learning from Seurat running until 17 January.
Saatchi Gallery’s UK/Raine exhibition runs until 3 January, providing a platform in the form of an open competition for emerging artists from the UK and Ukraine who are between the ages of 18-35. The aim of the competition is to find and support the most imaginative and talented young artists, live and work, or were born in either country. Artists entered their work via the Saatchi Gallery’s website into one of five categories: installation, new media (including video and photography), painting, sculpture and street art.
To mark its 30th anniversary, the Saatchi Gallery will open Champagne Life, the Gallery’s first all-women exhibition, on 13 January 2016. The exhibition celebrates the work of a constellation of female artists, and provides a rare and apposite moment to reflect on what it means to be a female artist working today. Champagne Life pays tribute to Saatchi Gallery’s commitment to supporting the work of women artists early on in their careers and providing them with a platform to showcase their work. Many of these artists have gone on to become central figures in contemporary art, including Tracey Emin, Paula Rego, Jenny Saville, Cindy Sherman, and Rachel Whiteread amongst many others.
Mall Galleries has a trio of fantastic exhibitions coming up this and next month; Out of Hours features work created by gallery staff, Designer Crafts at Christmas 2015 offers visitors the opportunity to purchase beautiful gifts created by the Society of Designer Craftsman and FBA Futures 2016 showcases the outstanding art graduates of 2015 as selected from across the UK by the Federation of British Artists.
Image credits:
Linda Evangelista at the International Collections by Patrick Demarchelier, 1991. Patrick Demarchelier Inc. © The Condé Nast Publications Ltd
The Second Age of Beauty is Glamour by Cecil Beaton,1946. Condé Nast Archive London © The Condé Nast Publications Ltd
Marlene Dietrich in London by Cecil Beaton, 1936. Condé Nast Archive London © The Condé Nast Publications Ltd