5 exhibitions to see in London throughout September
We're back!
As summer winds down, we are here with a quick fire round up of the best exhibitions to see in London throughout September.
What exhibitions are you looking forward to this month?
September 5 - 28
Harriet Gillett graduated from City and Guilds of London Art School in 2022, before taking part in the 2023 edition of New Contemporaries. Now, her solo exhibition at Lamb Gallery offers an intimate look into her world as a London-based artist, presenting works that draw upon her personal experiences and memories within the city. From tender portraits of friends to scenes of local cafes and musicians performing in churches, Gillett intertwines these elements into a broader narrative, celebrating both London and the artistic community that has deeply influenced her.
The exhibition title takes inspiration from a song by Talking Heads. Reflecting on this connection, Gillett shares: “Much like the songs from their tour film ‘Stop Making Sense,’ which I saw last year, my paintings explore themes of belonging, home, and the search for identity within a vast, bustling place— in my case, London."
September 12 - October 16
If you haven’t heard of SLAWN, where have you been?
Nigerian-born, London-based artist Olaolu Akeredolu-Ale, also known as Slawn, fuses his Yoruba heritage with contemporary youth culture in his work. Operating outside the traditional art world, Slawn has cultivated a loyal online following through his bold satire of modern society. His art playfully engages with stereotypes and caricatures to explore complex themes like human psychology, politics, race, and other challenging topics.
From collaborations with Louis Vuitton, to designing the 2023 Brit Award, Slawn now brings his vibrant street art aesthetic to Saatchi Yates for the first time. Alongside a plethora of original works, the exhibition includes 1000 A4 canvases exhibited as a gallery-wide explosion of colour in the St. James’s space.
September 12 - October 26
Jessie Stevenson delves into the physical and emotional forces of the natural world through her work. Her upcoming exhibition at Berntson Bhattacharjee features large-scale paintings that shift between the poetic landscapes of the Norfolk marshes and the Western Deserts of Egypt. Drawing on childhood memories of Cairo, Stevenson reflects on humanity’s place in history and the passage of stories across time. Her evolving landscapes are infused with studies of antiquity, ritual, and a deep sense of nostalgia.
September 13 - October 13
In Bitches in Heat, Lydia Pettit and Olivia Sterling unleash a raw, untamed exploration of desire, where frothing mouths and grasping hands take center stage.
Having first discovered each other's work at the Royal College of Art in 2020, Pettit and Sterling felt an immediate connection, leading to a joint show that has been four years in the making. Both artists primarily work in painting, using the body as a central theme, but in strikingly different ways.
Pettit, inspired by Paula Rego’s iconic dog women, crawls across the floor in one sweeping canvas, with sharp, talon-like nails and bared teeth. Sterling depicts a pair of legs playfully dangling through the ceiling above directions for the ladies’ room, as a hand passes a retro cocktail from the corner of the canvas. Their appetites, symbolised through Sterling’s use of food and Pettit’s feral self-portraits, are at times unapologetically animalistic, challenging the limited contemporary cliches of who is desired – and how. Inspirations verge from the ominous shadows of ‘The Evil Dead’ to the bawdy humour of Beryl Cook and Otto Dix’s muscular, feline reclining woman.
September 21 - December 10, 2024
A key figure in British art, Michael Craig-Martin is one of the most influential artists and teachers of his generation.
Since coming to prominence in the late 1960s he has moved between sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, prints and digital works, creating a body of work that has fused elements from pop, minimalism and conceptual art.
Craig-Martin will transform the Royal Academy’s Main Galleries with work from across his career. His early experimental sculpture and his landmark conceptual work An Oak Tree will hang alongside his large-scale, vivid colour paintings of everyday objects – from corkscrews and umbrellas to laptops and smartphones.
Featuring a dramatic site-specific installation, a group of monumental sculptures and new immersive digital work by the artist, this will be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of Craig-Martin's work ever held in the UK.
Are you planning to visit any of these shows? Or want to recommend more?