Diary of a London Art Critic: December

It's beginning to look a lot like Art-mas?

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.

It’s the last splurge of exhibitions before we ease off for the festive season, hence, the first week in this entry is much busier than the second.

Saturday 7 December

A grey and miserable day (is there any other kind in December) spent visiting a great mixture of exhibitions in East London

With Maria Berrio’s work and my Londonist hoodie keeping me dry

There are two exhibitions at Victoria Miro - Maria Berrio & Motion in Stillness (until 18 January, free - closed between 21 December - 6 January). There’s so much to see in Maria Berrio’s large-scale paintings filled with different characters, including many wearing traditional Japanese masks and plenty of fun inclusions of cat masks. The texture needs to be seen in person as it’s all painted on Japanese paper so there’s a fantastic layering and subtle roughness.

On the top floor space ‘Motion in stillness’ is filled with artists whose works relate to dance, including Paula Rego’s dancing figures and France-Lise McGurn’s colourful works that spread out of the canvas onto the walls.

Royal Drawing School’s end-of-year exhibition is always a delight (closed now) —from a boxing match to oversized feet, figurative to abstract works, and colourful to black and white, with over 500 drawings, prints and works on paper by students graduating from The Drawing Year 2024 postgraduate-level programme.

Autograph ABP has a couple of strong photography exhibitions (until 22 March, free). Abi Morocco is in the main space downstairs and is all about fashion in Lagos and it looks great, even if fashion photography isn’t normally my thing. Rotimi Fani-Kayode’s work is upstairs and he creates powerful photos of black and white bodies pressed against each other in sexually charged images.

Martyn Cross at Hales (until 18 January, free) is a strange one as I like his colour palette and painting style, but have never been able to get on board with the fantastical subject matter.

The Equal Right to Live and Blossom was a group show at Kate MacGarry (now closed). The works were hit and miss but I did like the colourful table, chairs and speakers.

Stephen Harwood at Benjamin Rhodes (extended until 20 December, free) paints the grittier side of East London and you can read all about his work in my interview. It was great to meet the artist who was present when I visited.

Jen Orpin at Union Gallery (now closed) paints motorway bridges and does a fantastic job of it in her paintings, celebrating these unglamorous structures - though her paintings of LA’s highway crossings are far more glamorous. You can read more about her work on Londonist.

Beneath the paywall

• My thoughts on Takashi Murakami’s new paintings

• Plenty of bling at Science Museum

• Mini-reviews of more than 30 exhibitions