Popular Art Exhibitions in London: Summer 2024 Highlights

London is set to host a series of compelling art exhibitions this summer, showcasing the works of renowned and emerging artists. Explore the intriguing blend of fantasy and humor in Ivar Arosenius’s pieces, the cultural commentary in Alex Israel’s pop culture-infused art, and the evocative exploration of memory and loss in Laura Lancaster’s paintings. Don’t miss out on these must-see exhibitions that offer a unique glimpse into the diverse world of contemporary and historical art.

Miriam de Búrca: Noblesse Oblige

• When: 21^st Jun- 27^th Jul, 2024
• Where: Cristea Roberts Gallery, London

Cristea Roberts Gallery is excited to present Miriam de Búrca’s inaugural solo exhibition in the UK. Titled Noblesse Oblige, the exhibition showcases over 25 new pieces that delve into the enduring impacts of systems of coercion, exploitation, and extraction across Europe and the US. Highlights include a new series of drawings focusing on burial sites in Ireland reserved for individuals deemed ‘unsuitable’ for consecrated burial, as well as glass works employing a traditional technique of etching into gilded gold leaf. Through these artworks, de Búrca prompts reflection on our collective responsibility—both as individuals and nations—to confront the repercussions of unchecked institutional power, which now manifests as more destructive than ever before.

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Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens

• When: 20^th Jun- 8^th Sep, 2024
• Where: National Portrait Gallery, London

This representation explores the remarkable lives and enduring legacies of Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Katherine Parr. It begins by analyzing these women as cultural icons, examining how their stories have inspired artists and storytellers through the ages, from Shakespeare’s portrayal in Henry VIII to the contemporary musical Six. A comprehensive essay introduces the queens’ self-representation through portraiture, followed by individual chapters that delve into each queen’s relationship with the king, their social and familial connections, and their patronage.

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brecht: fragments

• When: 15^th Jun- 18^th Aug, 2024
• Where: Raven Row, London

Brecht meticulously collected and organized visual materials throughout his career, drawing from diverse sources like newspapers, magazines, labels, and packaging. He amassed images that influenced his theatre, ranging from medieval paintings and Chinese theatre to modern clothing and industrial scenes. Brecht also documented social and political events, capturing images of politicians, soldiers, workers, and everyday people. These collages were assembled in notebooks, journals, and manuscripts. Except for “War Primer,” an image-text essay on war and capitalism, much of this material is not widely known.

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Double Exposure: David Bailey and Mary McCartney

• When: 14^th May -19^th Jul, 2024
• Where: Claridge’s ArtSpace, London

The exhibition unites renowned British photographers David Bailey and Mary McCartney for the first time, curated by Brandei Estes. Spanning from the 1960s to the present, the series explores their shared aesthetic of reinvention, play, and the art of portraiture. David Bailey, for over fifty years, has captured iconic and glamorous figures, known for his joyful and deeply connected portraits, even of the most photographed celebrities. Similarly, Mary McCartney’s portraits, featuring icons like Kate Moss and Harry Styles, exhibit a theatrical and performative quality. Her work, however, also includes everyday moments, such as a ballet dancer off duty or a woman hailing a taxi, suggesting that anything or anyone can be a worthy subject.

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Ivar Arosenius: The Serious Jester

• When: 15^th Jun- 5^th Jul, 2024
• Where: Fiumano Clase, London

For the first time in London, an exhibition dedicated to Ivar Arosenius’s work is being hosted by the sister gallery, Clase Fine Art. The display features thirty-two works, some available for purchase, showcasing Arosenius’s unique blend of fantasy, sharp humor, innocence, and decadence. Arosenius’s work is prominently featured in major Swedish museums, including Nationalmuseum and Thielska Galleriet in Stockholm, Norrköping Art Museum, and Gothenburg Museum of Art, where it is permanently exhibited in the “Arosenius Room.” His works are also part of the collections at the National Museum of Norway and the National Gallery of Denmark.

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Alex Israel: REMEMBR

• When: 6^th Jun -13^th Jul, 2024
• Where: Gagosian Davies St, London

Alex Israel’s art harnesses pop culture as a universal language, drawing on the allure of Hollywood and the remnants of film production—such as backdrops, sets, and props. Israel’s work seamlessly integrates with the Internet and social media. His art becomes a brand, embodying a Southern Californian millennial lifestyle, symbolized by his iconic shades-wearing profile logo, which appears across high-visibility platforms in art, entertainment, fashion, and tech. Each of Israel’s projects contains a landscape of Los Angeles and a self-portrait, while also offering a shrewd reflection on a world driven by celebrity, product placement, and influence.

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Laura Lancaster: In Dreams

• When: 30^th May -5^th Jul, 2024
• Where: Workplace, London

The exhibition In Dreams at Workplace will expand on Lancaster’s unique exploration of collective memory, loss, and longing. Her paintings evoke a poignant sense of transience and introspection, navigating the space between abstraction and figuration, and oscillating between the sentimental, melancholic, uncanny, and strange. Lancaster’s recent works feature anonymous women in pastoral landscapes, reflecting her interest in archival and discarded ephemera sourced from online auction sites, flea markets, and junk shops. While her work aligns with a tradition of artists exploring the psychological dimensions of figurative painting, she aims to subvert its gendered history.

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Euan Uglow

• When: 22^nd May -19^th Jul, 2024
• Where: Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, London

The exhibition features twenty-five paintings, showcasing some of the artist’s most significant nudes, still lifes, and landscapes. Euan Uglow (1932-2000), one of Britain’s most important figurative painters, is known for his meticulously constructed works. This collection includes rare and exceptional masterpieces from public and private collections, highlighting Uglow’s precise placement of bodies and limbs, his dedication to clarity, and his sensitivity to planes of light and form. The accompanying catalogue includes essays by the exhibition’s curator, Catherine Lampert, and recollections from Andrew Lambirth and Celia Lyttelton, the sitter for *Curled Nude on a Stool* (1982-83).

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