Diary of a London Art Critic: April Art Attack

Lights, Caracci, Exhibitions

In this post, I summarise every exhibition I’ve seen over the last few weeks, not just those I write about in other publications, and you get my honest thoughts on them.

Saturday 29 March

It was a South London Saturday as I swept from South-West to South-East London.

Upstairs at Newport Street Gallery

There’s a double header of exhibitions at Newport Street Gallery (until 31 August, free), once again curated by Damien’s son, Connor Hirst. It seems this ‘nepo baby’ is here to stay. This space needs a curator, as Damien doesn’t have the time for it, and I’m guessing he intends to keep it in the family.

Raging Planet, downstairs, features some excellent artists, including Bosco Sodi’s earthy circular works and Roger Hiorns' items coated in copper sulphate crystals. Sadly, the loose curatorial thread of engaging with the natural world makes no sense, as I’m not sure what’s natural about copper sulphate crystals.

I found the upstairs area far more interesting, as The Power and The Glory pairs photographs of nuclear testing with scholars' rocks - rocks that have been naturally formed but appear to have been sculpted by hand. It’s a vast collection of both, and I like the pairing of manmade elements with the natural world.

Nearby is the hidden-away Beaconsfield space, showing the works of Anssi Kasitonni (until 26 April, free), including a shiny sculpture upstairs that did little for me. However, the quirky humour in the films is enjoyable, though I only had time to watch one, and others have told me that it’s worth watching as many as you can.

RIP Germain’s exhibition at Cabinet has been generating a lot of hype, and it’s well-deserved (until 10 May, free). It relates to the UK drill scene, where many of those rappers have ended up in jail. The experience involves a police van downstairs, where you can clamber inside and watch a video in a claustrophobic space. I’m generally not a fan of the gallery because they often go out of their way to make the gallery hard to find and provide little to no information on the artist. However, in this case, it’s such a powerful installation that it’s worth pushing past that.

Tadashi Toyama at William Hine (until 5 April, free) is an exhibition of dreamy paintings that didn’t do much for me, but I popped by as I like this new gallery and am supportive of what Will is doing with it.

Goldsmiths CCA has two exhibitions, and most of the space is dedicated to the work of Galli (until 4 May, free), who has a powerful story of being born at the end of the Second World War. However, her loose, figurative works left little impression on me. I much preferred the film by Eunjo Lee (until May 4, free), where you sit surrounded by the earthy scent of bark chips and watch a creepy, sci-fi dystopian landscape.

Scream-Along by Saskia Takens-Milne is in the basement of The Bohemians Hair Salon in Deptford (now closed). It’s a fun concept of screaming along to the many women shown screaming in movies, and it’s set up like a karaoke bar, so it’s best done with friends - I was too self-conscious to scream alone. It also has a satirical feminist streak, reminiscent of the stereotypical portrayal of women as screaming in movies.

I ended the day at The Vaults in Waterloo, home to the Saddest Show on Earth (now closed). Sophie Green is highly skilled in her photo-realistic paintings of animals, raising awareness of animal exploitation and consumerism—a worthy cause.

Below the paywall

• Decolonising a museum

• My thoughts on major exhibitions on climate change and mudlarking

• What’s happening in Plymouth and Rugby

• Dozens more exhibitions