Art critic Paul Carey-Kent gives Artlyst his recommendations for London Art Exhibitions around the Capital for July 2016. There are still a number of great things to see before the August drought.
Katherine Murphy: Decay @ Patrick Heide, 11 Church St – Edgeware Road
To 17 Sept: www.patrickheide.com
Labour + Repetition = Decay (no.9), 2015
Katherine Murphy gives obsession a political inflexion, as her labour stands in for the under-acknowledged toil of the many carrying out repetitive tasks in the broader economy. That’s explicit in her timesheet-based prints, but equally present in two new streams of work (and I mean work) in this, her first full solo show. The series Labour + Repetition = Decay requires the folding and unfolding of paper over several weeks to reach an aesthetic of ditressed geometry. For Decay by 100,000 pinholes Murphy has pricked as many as that into a large piece of paper, using a decreasing number of random numbers to decide where to pierce, so that ‘blank’ patches increase towards the right. That was six months of labour for – even if the piece is sold – no more than pin money.
Katherine Murphy in front of thousands of holes, not easily spotted in a photograph
Overlay @ White Rainbow, 47 Mortimer St – Fitzrovia
To 17 Sept: www.white-rainbow.co.uk
In the inspiring presence of Nancy Holt’s Trail Markers, four young artists pick up on its aspects of journeys, materiality and sexual roles with an underlying contrast of natural and artificial. Cathy Haynes constructs an alphabet out of plastic imitation wood, each letter framed in real wood faked to look like oak; Claire Potter films herself in male action mode but taking mockingly little action; Zoë Paul plays with ritual through volcanic rock faces, marble staging, and mist machines; Hannah Lees explores wine as paint, incense as a sculptural element, and the detritus of river walks as content immured in plaster. The whole creates a subtle but immersive interplay: kudos to curator Jeremy Millar as well as to the artists.
Francis Alÿs: Ciudad Juárez projects @ David Zwirner, 24 Grafton St – Mayfair
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To 29 July: www.massimodecarlo.com
Kaari Upson Kiss (Woven), 2009-2015
Installation view with Paweł Althamer and Dan Colen (Todd-White Art Photography)
Niki de Saint Phalle: je Suis une Vache Suisse @ Omer Tiroche Contemporary Art, 21 Conduit St – Mayfair
To 10 Sept: www.otca.co.uk
Je Suis Une Vache Suisse, 1991 – oil, pencil and mirror on wood, 99 x 96 x 20 cm
There are some superb historical shows on at the moment: Louise Nevelson at Pace, Jean Dubuffet at Timothy Taylor, Gego at Dominique Lévy… Less obvious, perhaps,. is this co-selection with the Yorkshire Sculpture Park of Niki de Saint Phalle (1930 – 2002). It’s seeded with darkness, All Over being one of the collages of everyday items (somewhat akin to Mike Kelley’s later ‘Memory Ware’ series) which she stated making while in a mental institution following depression and prior to her famous shooting paintings. Omitting those, the show fast forwards to her brighter and more animalistic side, including the eponymous Swiss cow with cheesy holes; her usual fun with birds and snakes; and the plaster work showing her friend Clarice Rivers (Larry’s wife) pregnant – which was to swell into the Nana series.
All Over, 1959-60 – objects i plaster on wood panel
Rubén Grilo: Proof of Concept @ Union Pacific, 17 Goulston St – Aldgate
All the press release for this show says is that Spanish sculptor Rubén Grilo claims no credit for it. But whoever is responsible, it’s an enjoyable if head-scratching experience to ponder what concept is proven. I’ve previously seen his grids made from casts of chocolate. which bring modernism and consumerism into a tasty set-to. Here they’re mounted on bales of hay, suggesting rough and ready building blocks at odds with factory production, which is further undermined by the table-come-plinths on which Grilo shows other sculptures: he exposes their construction and puts a lot of effort into sanding back new components to make them look old. On them are giant versions of the shapes made by biting – presumably into chocolate…
Three Ball 50/50 Tank (Spalding Dr JK Silver series), 1995
Clouds (I), 2016 found shop panels, powder-coated shop panels, uprights, pegs, hand-blown glass
This is a Voice @ the Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road – Euston
Marcus Coates: stills from ‘Dawn Chorus’
Kerry Tribe: still from ‘M.B.’, which plays on two screens with a twenty second gap