[title]
‘No Comply: Skate Culture and Community’
Skating has had a massive, though largely overlooked, impact on contemporary culture. This exhibition will give it some long overdue attention, with a collection of photography, film, design and fashion, all about life on four wheels and plank of wood. Gnarly.
19 Jul-19 Sep, Somerset House. More information here.
‘Joy’ and ‘Tranquility’
The Wellcome is back with its signature mix of science and art, this time pointing the microscope and the paint brush at the concept of happiness. Their ‘On Happiness’ season is opening with two exhibitions, ‘Joy’ and ‘Tranquility’, each featuring immersive installations, historical objects and art by the likes of David Shrigley and Amalia Pica.
‘Tranquility’, 15 Jul-9 Jan 2022, and ‘Joy’, 15 Jul-27 Feb 2022, Wellcome Collection. More info here.
Paula Rego
This massive survey show will look at the life and work of one of Britain’s most important painters, the always fiercely strong Paula Rego. She had a huge influence on how women are represented in art, and how women artists are seen by the wider world, and this exhibition will bring together over 100 of her colourful, ultra-personal paintings, collages and drawings from the 1950s through to today.
7 Jul-24 Oct, Tate Britain. More information here.
Sophie Taeuber Arp
Taeuber Arp spent her career not just dancing around the edges of art, design and craft, but stamping all over them. Her work with textiles throughout the early twentieth century was not just visually unique among all the modernists of her era, but helped set a path of boundary blurring that countless artists have followed since.
15 Jul-17 Oct, Tate Modern. More information here.
‘War Inna Babylon’
This year’s Turner Prize is made up exclusively of community action groups, so it’s no surprise to see the ICA getting in on the act with this show organised by Tottenham Rights, a north London racial advocacy group. The show acts as a history of Black political struggle against institutional racism in Tottenham, filled with archive material, film, photography and 3D technology.
6 Jul–26 Sep, ICA. More information here.
‘Bellotto: The Königstein Views Reunited’
Bellotto's five views of a hillside city south of Dresden are brought together here for a monumental, panoramic, dramatic visual experience. This was the Italian landscape painter at the absolute peak of his powers, and each work is a bold, eye-tingling, ambitious statement of his talents.
22 Jul-31 Oct, National Gallery. More information here.
Can't wait? Here are the top ten exhibitions in London right now.
Can't wait, but also don't want to pay? Here are the best free exhibitions in town.