20 art exhibitions to see in London in February 2022
London is undoubtedly home to some of the greatest art institutions in the world, but also small galleries that are diversifying the London art scene. With February on the horizon and what feels like some sort of return to normalcy, live art is back in business! Check out our guide to 20 exhibitions you have to see in London in February.
Amy: Beyond the Stage
Location: Design Museum, 224-238, Kensington High Street, W8 6AG
Date: Until 10 April 2022
Price: From £7.25
Image: Amy Whinhouse Exhitbion, Amy: Beyond the Stage at the Design Museum, MTotoe
This exhibition about icon musician Amy Winehouse celebrates her legacy and creativity, allowing visitors to relive iconic performances and to understand the singer’s creative process as an artist. Book now at designmuseum.org
Shilpa Gupta: Sun at Night
Location: The Barbican (The Curve), Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS
Date: Until 6 February 2022
Price: Free
Mumbai-based artist Shilpa Gupta’s first London exhibition highlights the fragility of one’s right to expression whilst addressing the urgent issues of censorship, confinement and resistance. No advanced booking is required. For more info barbican.org.uk
Hyundai Commission: Anicka Yi: In Love With The World
Location: Tate Modern, Bankside London, SE1 United Kingdom
Date: Until 6 February 2022
Price: Free
Image: Hyundai Commission: Anicka Yi: In Love With The World, Tate
Tate Modern in partnership with Hyundai Motor, has unveiled a captivating installation by artist Anicka Yi. Yi, known for the way she fuses artistic imagination and scientific research, has populated the Turbine Hall with floating machines, representing the vision of a new ecosystem and encouraging us to think about the new ways machines might inhabit the world. Previously on until 16 January, the exhibition has been extended to 6 February. . Book tickets at tate.org.uk
Beano: The Art of Breaking the Rules
Location: Somerset House, Embankment Galleries, South Wing, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA
Date: Until 6 March 2022
Price: £16/£12.50 for concessions. Under 6s go free
Somerset House presents an exhibition celebrating the classic fictional characters of Beano. Offering viewers an opportunity to step into the pages of the comic and take a trip into Beanotown, the exhibition explores how this beloved and iconic British comic has fired up successive generations to break the rules while discovering artists who push boundaries in their own original and wonderful ways. Book at somersethouse.org.uk
Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art, 50s-Now
Location: Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Date: Until 3 April 2022
Price: £16
Featuring the works of over 40 artists, this exhibition celebrates how Caribbeans have forged new communities and identities in post-war Britain – and the impact they’ve had on British art and culture. Artists featured include: Claudette Johnson, Hurvin Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner and Alberta Whittle. Book tickets at tate.org.uk
Image: Sculptures in the city
Sculptures in the city
Location: City of London financial district
Date: Spring 2022
Price: Free
Explore the 19 artworks on display in the City of London’s financial district until spring 2022. This year marks the 10th edition of Sculpture in the City, an annual sculpture park that uses the urban realm as a rotating gallery space. Explore more about the project on sculptureinthecity.org.uk
Titanic the Exhibition
Location: Dock X London - Unit 1, Canada Water Retail Park, Surrey Quays Road, London, SE16 2XU
Date: Until 20 March 2022
Price: £22.90
A collection of testimonials and belongings, Titanic: The Exhibition offers viewers an opportunity to connect with the Titanic’s passengers who were aboard the ship on its maiden and final journey. Book tickets at titanicexhbitionlondon.com
Harry Potter Photographic Exhibition
Location: London Film Museum
Date: Until 31 March 2022
Price: £20
The Photographic Exhibition takes fans behind-the-scenes of key moments in the Harry Potter film series, from Harry’s first day at Hogwarts through to the Battle of Hogwarts. Be sure to check out the Butterbeer bar, where you can purchase the wizard’s drink of choice served in a souvenir tankard, or take a bottle away to enjoy at home! Book tickets at harrypotteronlocation.co.uk
Kehinde Wiley: The Prelude
Image: Kehinde Wiley The Prelude, National Gallery
Location: National Gallery, Sunley Room, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN
Date: Until 18 April 2022
Price: Free
Best known for his portraits that render people of colour in the traditional settings of Old Master paintings, Kehinde Wiley exhibits a range of new works exploring European Romanticism, heavily influenced by Turner, Claude, Vernet and Friedrich. Book tickets at nationalgallery.org.uk
Care | Contagion | Community — Self & Other
Location: Autograph, Rivington Place, London. EC2A 3BA
Date: Until 12 February 2022
Price: Free
Autograph has commissioned ten UK-based visual artists – to create new work responding to the wider contexts of Covid-19. Using photography and video primarily, the artists reflect both carefully and critically – and often very personally – on the impact of the pandemic, exploring loss, family, home, belonging and diaspora while considering different lived experiences, and the inevitability of change. The exhibitions includes works by Mohini Chandra, Dexter McLean, Karl Ohiri, Silvia Rosi and Aida Silvestri. Book at autograph.org.uk
Image: Suchitra Mattai Exhibtion- Monster at Unit London
Suchitra Mattai – Monster
Location: Unit London, 3 Hanover Square, W1S 1HD
Date: Until 12 February 2022
Price: Free
Suchitra Mattai’s first solo exhibition with Unit London is an exploration of monsters in their various forms. Navigating spaces of myth, fantasy and memory, Mattai’s exhibition delves into how otherness and monstrosity intertwine. A not to be missed exhibition this winter. For more unitlondon.com
The Art by Banksy
Location: Covent Garden
Date: Until 22 May 2022
Price: £25
London’s ‘The Art of Banksy’ exhibition is the world’s largest touring collection of Banksy’s artwork. With over 90 masterpieces by the famed, elusive artist, viewers can explore some of his most famous artwork including Girl with a Balloon and Rude Copper whilst discovering lesser-known works and limited edition pieces. Book at artbybanksy.co.uk
Image: Eric Adjei Tawiah, Gallery 1957
Eric Adjei Tawiah’s solo exhibition - Threads of Past and Present
Location: Gallery 1957,1 Hyde Park Gate, SW7 5EW
Date: Until 5 March 2022
Price: Free
Gallery 1957 presents Threads of Past and Present, a solo exhibition of new work by Ghanaian artist Eric Adjei Tawiah. In this exhibition, Tawiah offers a celebration of camaraderie, friendship, family and major public figures, both living and deceased, during a moment when human kinship is needed now more than ever. For more gallery1957.com
Who Are We? Navigating Race, Class and the City
Location: Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, Mattock Lane, London, W5 5EQ
Date: Until 5 June 2022
Price: £7.70
Curated by Bollo Studios in South Acton, this exhibition includes film, sculpture, fashion and painting, interrogating our social conditioning and understanding of race, class, community and language taboos. Featured works challenge viewers to question what society finds acceptable. Book at pitzhanger.org.uk
Victor Vasarely: ‘Universe’
Location: Corner Shop at Selfridges London 400 Oxford St, London W1A 1AB
Date: until 31 March 2022
Price: Free
Selfridges presents a first-of-its-kind, multi-layered cultural collaboration with Vasarely Foundation and Paco Rabanne, blending the worlds of NFT and IRL in a new project. ‘Universe’ will explore the work of ground-breaking artist Victor Vasarely, known for geometric designs and perception-bending illusions. The show will include an exhibition of 55 items of which 37 will be available for sale, alongside a series of specially commissioned NFTs created by London-based platform, Substance. For more information Selfridges.com
Exhibition: Rindon Johnson: ‘Law of Large Numbers: Our Selves’
Location: Chisenhale Gallery
Date: until 6 February 2022
Price: Free
In this newly-opened show at Chisenhale Gallery, American artist Rindon Johnson traverses a wide range of subjects, from his identity as a Black transgender American, to the environmental crisis and the space between actual and virtual realities. Through sculpture, installation, poetry, writing, virtual reality film and painting, Johnson probes at the very core of belonging. For more chisenhale.org.uk
Image: Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution, V&A Museum
Fabergé in London: Romance to Revolution
Location: Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2RL
Date: 8 May 2022
Price: £20
Explore the works of master goldsmith, Carl Fabergé – the man behind the internationally recognised symbol of luxury and elegance – the Fabergé egg. Book tickets at vam.ac.uk
Yayoi Kusama: ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’
Location: Tate Modern
Date: Until 12 June 2022
Price: £10
Arguably one of the most highly anticipated exhibitions in London, Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Infinity Mirror Rooms’ is currently on show in London. The year-long immersive show features two of the artist’s acclaimed mirror room installations offering a mesmerising and immersive glimpse into the mind of the Japanese artist. Also on view is The Universe as Seen from the Stairway to Heaven, 2021, Kusama’s brand new ’peep in’ sculpture, which has been created specifically for the show.
Tickets are hard to come by but if you check every now and again, tickets pop up on sale. Book at tate.org
Image: Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child at Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child
Location: Hayward Gallery
Date: until 15 May 2022
Price: £15
Exploring what the artist, in her own words, called ‘the magic power of the needle … to repair the damage’ and to offer ‘a claim to forgiveness’, Hayward Gallery will showcase an exhibition by Louise Bourgeois, featuring over 90 pieces focused exclusively on work she has created over the last two decades using fabrics and textiles. The exhibition will explore themes of identity, sexuality, trauma and memory. Book at southbankcentre.co.uk
Damien Cifelli Exhibition
Location: Wolf & Badger Studios, 1 Westgate Street, London, E8 3RL
Date: Until 18th of February 2022
Price: Free
After having to postpone the original event due to Covid-19, Wolf and Badger Studio, a studio set up to promote local artists, are finally opening their first ever art exhibition on Thursday the 3rd of February. The opening night will display work by young, Hackney-based artist Damien Cifelli, a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the land of Tarogramma; a hidden world that explorers have long been searching for in vain.Click here to book.