NOVEMBER PLANNER: ART EXHIBITIONS TO SEE

EXHIBITIONS | RECOMENDED

OXFORD, BATH, CHELTENHAM, LONDON

We're around and about this month, with shows as varied as the artists of the collective. Some exciting reopening offerings from the Modern Art in Oxford as well as some nice highlights in the South West and an very exciting two-for-one not to miss if you're in the Capital! Read more about our four picks for November and get your trips planned!

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2 NOVEMBER - 9 FEBRUARY

BELKIS AYÓN: SIKÁN ILLUMINATIONS - MAO, OXFORDBELKIS AYÓN: SIKÁN ILLUMINATIONS - MAO, OXFORD

Ayón was a Cuban artist known for her spiritual otherworldly prints and her exceptional collography technique. This exhibition examines her short but intense career delighting in her rich enigmatic works which recreate the world of the Abakuá - a Cuban religious fraternity with it's origins in tribal West Africa.

Ayón's work explored and reinterpreted the origin story of Abakuá a female mythical figure and combines it with her own experience as a black Cuban woman. She uses her unique highly textured and detailed visual language to weave narratives together and imagine alternative pathways through societies and cultures.

A prominent figure in 20th Century Cuban Art, the Sikán Illuminations is the first major exhibition of Ayón's work in the UK. Consisting of 50 works, this show is likely to be an enthralling artists' master class in storytelling and and a delve into a different time and culture with plenty of relevance today. If you love or create work with visual narratives, this is a must see.

Hit the link below to get the full details and plan your visit

GALLERY WEBSITE

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13 OCTOBER - 11 JANUARY

BATH SOCIETY OF ARTISTS ANNUAL OPEN EXHIBITION - VICTORIA ART GALLERY, BATH

This year see's the 119th annual open exhibition of The Bath Society of Artists at the Victoria Art Gallery. Always a highlight of Bath's cultural calendar, this year looks to be no different. A nicely balanced mix of members and non members the show reads as highly professional, inclusive but without any lowering of standards or leaning of kitsch, a real feast to explore. With a generous blend of painting, drawing, print, mixed media and sculpture (including those by invited artist Peter Randall-Page), and some of the regions top artists, there is a plenty of eclecticism here and lots to love. On until January there's plenty of time to visit, but with the festive season fast approaching, it's a great shout to get your culture fix before any craziness kicks in.

Find out more and grab your tickets on the link below:

BOOK TICKETS

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5 OCTOBER - 7 FEBRUARY

INTO ABSTRACTION - THE WILSON, CHELTENHAM

As ever The Wilson tells us little of what to expect with the show notes for this one. Potentially this helps to not give spoilers for what is a relatively small space and therefore show, but leaves the visitor to do much of the context reading and expectation management once physically in the room. What is clear is that this is a partnership with The Hepworth Wakefield and Gallery Pangolin.

The show looks at how artists embraced abstraction as an evolution in reactions to to psychological and emotional challenges presented by the changing world around them. It begins with representational landscapes and figurative works, through pieces depicting social and cultural upheavals and, as the title beautifully describes, leads to the reactionary decent into abstraction. It does this by using five key moments in the twentieth century each explored with a balance of representational and abstract works, places and artists.

Despite personal feelings of detachment between the two curated spaces - this feels like two concurrent exhibitions, rather than a cohesive collection - the show is nicely informative with concise but contextual writings about the movement in the UK, perfect for anyone a little fuzzy on the how and why we came to the abstract. There is also some really, really great pieces, not limited to a very nice Patrick Heron example of Rothko inspired colour-field abstraction, the collection of Elizabeth Frink and Bernard Meadows sculptures, a sneaky Lowry and even a wonderful Bridget Riley! Any astute reader might notice here, that I've not mentioned the obvious Barbara Hepworth piece. Maybe the dusty display box at the back of the fractured second level room rendered it slightly underwhelming. Maybe a trip to Cheltenham House is a better space for viewing a Hepworth work. Maybe you completely disagree, you can go see the show and make your mind up, it's on until February, so plenty of time for more than one trip.

Find out more about The Wilson below

FIND OUT MORE

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18 SEPTEMBER - 3 JANUARY

PAMELA PHATSIMO SUNSTRUM: IT WILL END IN TEARS &

THE IMAGINARY INSTITUTION OF INDIA - BARBICAN, LONDON

This is really just a highlight for everything Visual Art related at Barbican currently, as in the detailing of a highly anticipated show from Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum it was realised that the other show on concurrently - The Imaginary Institution of India, was also looking to be a remarkably beautiful show which should be highly recommended. So let's look at both.

To start with: It Will End In Tears from Sunstrum. Her first major institutional solo exhibition in the UK moves us through an imagined film noir narrative revealing the story of a Sunstrum's take on a "femme fatale". We explore through her created world a colonial outpost and a main character who rebels agains societal norms and rules. Using drawing painting and installations Sunstrum's world unfolds around the Barbican's Curve imbuing the ongoing narrative with her own life experiences of liminal spaces between borders and deep feelings of home. Sunstrum's paintings and drawings are lively, at once both detailed and bare, alive yet distinctly not there, and utilising a colour palette to dream of she uses this visual language to beautifully immerse the viewer in her storytelling.

From one imagined world to another quite real (despite what the show's name may have you believe) and the landmark group exhibition: The Imaginary Institution Of India. This exhibition features over 30 Indian artists who have made work in response to India's changing cultural-political landscape within the years of two transformative events in India's history, 1975 and 1998. Within this fraught period these artists created work which explored culturally and historically significant moments as well as ordinary and intimate ones; which come together here to tell stories of friendship, love, violence, and change. Many of these works are in the UK for the first time and no doubt this show will be a visual feast, making a trip to Barbican in November a two-for-one in the best possible way.

To get more information, of find tickets for The Imaginary Institution of India follow the link below.

FIND OUT MORE

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That's our four (ok cheat, five) top picks for art exhibitions to see in November, we hope you get to some of them. We'd love to hear your thoughts, so drop us a message if you do see any of them, let us know what you think!