Annely Juda Fine Art, 23 Dering Street, London, W1R 9AA (Tel: 0171-629 7578)
“1945: the end of the war” (to 14 September)
Marking the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, this exhibition brings together work created in that year by some fifty British, European and American artists. The list includes Arp, Archipenko, Braque, Fautrier, Léger, Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, with Hepworth, Hitchens, Moore and Freud the British representatives. There is no concern with style or subject, nor with the emergence of a dominant school of painting in New York, but with the simple fact that very little work was being made as a result of shortages of materials and wretched economic circumstances. The exhibition will be shown by Denise René (Paris) and Hans Mayer (Düsseldorf).
Beaux Arts, 22 Cork Street, London, W1X 1HB (Tel: 0171-437- 5799)
“Artists of Fame and Promise” (to 2 September)
Concentrating exclusively upon British painting and sculpture, this exhibition matches eight less familiar names represented by the gallery, the promise of the exhibition’s title, with eight established artists who include Craigie Aitchison, Frank Auerbach, John Bellany, Lynn Chadwick and Elisabeth Frink, whose estate is managed by the gallery. Ricardo Cinalli, now belonging to the gallery’s stable, appears in this second list. The selection of works of art will be rotated throughout the summer.
Michael Hue-Williams, 15 Cork Street, London, W1X 1PF (Tel: 0171-629-1887)
“Jaume Plensa: the proverbs of Hell” (to 29 July)
The title of this exhibition refers to the poetry of William Blake which the artist has incorporated into the three resin and brass wall sculptures presented in the vitrine which Michael Hue-Williams opened in Cork Street at the beginning of the season. Plensa is known to a British audience for his exhibition at Dean Clough, Halifax, in 1993 and will be the subject of a survey at the Jeu de Paume, Paris, at the end of 1996.
Waddington Galleries, 34 Cork Street, London, W1 (Tel: 0171-437 8611)
“Mimmo Paladino: Cities” (12 July-5 August)
The title of this exhibition, and an accompanying publication, refers to the subject depicted by the artist, a series of fourteen imaginative interpretations of Italian and European cityscapes populated by Paladino’s characteristic figures and faces and executed in oil pastels on board.
Stephen Friedman, 25-28 Old Burlington Street, London, W1X 1LB (Tel: 0171-494-1434)
“Anya Gallaccio” (to 22 July)
Formerly represented by Karsten Schubert, Anya Gallacio inaugurates the new gallery opened by private dealer Stephen Friedman at the beginning of last month. For this exhibition, she has created two new installations, both of which are metaphors of beauty and decay. There is her trademark of flowers, large daisies threaded into a long chain, and a table of glass coated with melting wax candles as if it were an altar to transience as much as an image of transience itself.
Marlborough Fine Art, 6 Albemarle Street, London, W1X 4BY (Tel: 0171-629-5161)
“Twentieth-century Masters” (12 July-2 September)
Marlborough’s annual summer exhibition meets its usual standards with stock ranging across the modern and contemporary masters and including a new acrylic painting by Paula Rego.
White Cube, 44 Duke Street, London, SW1Y 6DD (Tel: 0171-930 5373)
“Marc Quinn: blind leading the blind” (6 July-2 September)
Promising to be one of the most engaging occasions of the summer, this exhibition features one sculpture, a three-quarter length figure with head raised in a mood of ecstasy and an erect penis. It is a portrait of the artist’s body and features cast in lead at the Arch Bronze Foundry, Putney, and accompanies Quinn’s exhibition in the Tate Gallery’s Art Now room where he is showing seven head and torso self-portraits under the title of “Emotional Detox: (Seven Deadly Sins)”.
Ridinghouse Editions, 63 Riding House Street, London, W1P 7PP (Tel: 0171-255-1160)
“Dinos and Jake Chapman: Bring me the head of...” (to 29 July)
Situated in the back office of the gallery formerly occupied by Marc Jancou in Foley Street, this new venture is the creation of Karsten Schubert, Peter Chater, Thomas Dane and Charles Asprey, who have published their first edition, a fibreglass head which Dinos and Jake Chapman have decorated with a wig and a Pinocchio’s nose in the form of a penis. Allegedly inspired by Italian dealer Franco Toselli, it is exhibited with an editioned soft porn film in which it is featured as an accessory performing unspeakably uncomfortable actions upon various participants.
Independent Art Space, 23a Smith Street, London, SW3 4EE (Tel: 0171-259-9232)
“The Beauty of the World” (to 5 August)
Curated by British artist Adam Fuss, this exhibition, the sixth to be taking place in Max Wigram’s space in Chelsea, which he opened in February 1994, features the work of Christopher Bucklow and Simon Frost. Both artists share a meticulous style. Under the title of “Guest”, Bucklow will be showing eight photographs created by perforating a tin lid to a box camera of his own invention and permitting the sun to be recorded as pins of light on coloured paper. Frost is exhibiting a series of silver-point drawings and larger designs in which lines are incised into the surfaces of stainless steel plates.
Factual Nonsense, 44a Charlotte Road, London, EC2A 3PD (Tel: 0171-613-5048)
“Hanging Picnic” (until 8 July)
For his third annual summer entertainment, FN director Joshua Compston is returning to Hoxton Square in north London where he held last year’s “Fete Worse than Death”, which was nominated for the festival section of the British Gas Properties/Arts Council “Working for Cities” award. On this occasion, he is curating a picnic in the Edwardian style, with leading patrons of contemporary art assembling small parties under his supervision. In a parody of Bayswater Road on a Sunday afternoon, the works of twenty young British artists will be displayed on the square’s railings. The event will be filmed by Liz Friend for transmission in the South Bank Centre’s “Opening Shots” series in the autumn.
The following exhibitions were previewed in our last issue and are recommended: Sean Scully at Waddington (to 8 July); and Gerhard Richter at Anthony d’Offay (to 4 August).
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'The mighty Quinn'