Art Weekly Digest: London 20 - 26 March 2017

Every week The Art Partners will post a carefully curated selection of cultural events to see in London.

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Opening Of The Week

Howard Hodgkin

Howard Hodgkin’s works were exhibited at numerous galleries including Tate Britain, the British Museum and MoMA throughout his long career and now at the National Portrait Galleryfrom 23 March. Hodgkin was preparing his first ever exhibition devoted to portraits for the last 2 years of his life (artist passed away on 9th March 2017). Even though his paintings are well-known for being very rich in colour and for appearing bold abstract, in these series of portraits, Hodgkin’s main goal was to show the importance of the human presence: “I wouldn’t even know how to begin a picture without a subject”.

The exhibition will be on show until 18 June at the National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE

Hymn For The Weekend

Alicja Kwade: Medium Median

ThWhitechapel Gallery is hosting the premier UK project of the Berlin-based Polish artist Alicja Kwade’s (b.1979). The focus of the installation is a 21st-century mobile, featuring twenty-four electronic star charts - slowly orbiting each other in a three-dimensional composition, the devices evoke kinetic sculpture. Kwade in her practice analyses the relationship between time and space and tries to understand a human’s position in the universe. As the artist said herself, “Material objects are events in time. I am interested in understanding how we, in our own lifespan, are also part of these occurring events.”

The exhibition will be shown until 25 June at the Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High St, London, E1 7QX

Time To Book

Obsession: Jude Law

Jude Law 'Obsession' at the Barbican, Photo Credit: Jan Versweyveld

This spring, we have a unique opportunity to see the charismatic Jude Law in a new stage adaptation of Visconti’s social drama “Obsession”, itself based on James M Cain’s novel The Postman Always Rings Twice. It tells the story of Gino Costa, a handsome itinerant vagabond (played by Law), who becomes involved in a chilling, destructive love triangle. This Toneelgroep Amsterdam play is directed by Ivo van Hove and brings on one stage Dutch and British actors led by Jude Law.

It will take place from 19 April to 20 May at the Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS

Art Discourse

Matthew Burrows in Conversation with Nigel Cooke

Matthew Burrows, Wall 2017. Courtesy: The artist & Vigo Gallery

Vigo gallery offers its guests a unique chance to explore in depth Matthew Burrows’ practice by hosting a talk with the artist himself. The exhibition “Beyond the Garden Walls”, which is in its last week, includes Burrows' landscapes, figures, charcoal and acrylic paintings. In previous work Burrows described himself as the metaphorical gardener. Like the gardener he cares and nurtures, creating a potential paradise within the borders of cultivated nature. Over the garden wall explores nature as wilderness.

The talk is taking place on Thursday, March 23, at 6.30 pm at the Vigo Gallery, 21 Dering Sreet, W1S 1Al. Please RSVP: info@vigogallery.com

Last chance to see

Plastic Show at Almine Rech Galler

Plastic Show, Installation View at Almine Rech Gallery, Grosvenor Hill

Almine Rech Gallery' exhibition “Plastic Show” recalls the art in the 1960s in California, showcasing together five South Californian artists - Mary Corse (b.1945), Robert Irwin (b.1928), Craig Kauffman (1932–2010), John McCracken (1934–2011), and DeWain Valentine (b.1936) – the organiser of this exhibition, and who also in 1966 patented his own type of modified polyester resin which he used for his sculptures. All the artists knew each other and shared interests in Buddhism and UFOs, but explored the new technology in different ways.

The exhibition will be shown until 25 March at the Almine Rech Gallery, Grosvenor Hill, Broadbent House, W1K 3JH