Dan Flavin, Ikon, Birmingham
Marking 20 years since his death, this show takes Dan Flavin’s statement “It is what it is and it ain’t nothing else” as a starting point to explore his belief in the importance of artistic experience over the idea of art for art’s sake. Dating mainly from the early part of his career, the fluorescent light works exhibited here demonstrate how – alongside artists such as Sol LeWitt, Robert Ryman, and Frank Stella– Flavin played a key role in developing the language of minimalism and the rejection of illusionism, in favour of a situational approach to making and thinking about art.
Until 26 June 2016. www.ikon-gallery.org
Conceptual Art in Britain 1964–1979, Tate Britain, London
This exhibition explores how artists in Britain in the 1960s and ’70s began to abandon more traditional aesthetic values in favour of ideas – a shift that can also be seen to reflect a pivotal period in the country’s political and social history. Included are works by Margaret Harrison, Susan Hiller, Mary Kelly and Conrad Atkinson that explore some of the issues of the day including feminism and the troubles in Northern Ireland, while artists such as Michael Craig-Martin, Hamish Fulton, John Hilliard and Keith Arnatt show how a serial or logical approach to making art can be used to express a more ‘real’ view of the world. And whilst some of the works on show here have held up better than others, curator Andrew Wilson has done a fine job of unearthing the more intriguing aspects of this crucial period.
Until 29 August 2016. www.tate.org.uk
Edwina Bracken, Patriot Hall, Edinburgh
Recent Glasgow School of Art graduate Edwina Bracken presents a show of her 2D and 3D works. Geometric shapes and mathematics form the basis of her drawing, painting and sculpture, with the resulting cross disciplinary exhibition exploring notions of reproduction and materiality.
Until 26 April 2016. www.patriothallgallery.co.uk
Hannah Sawtell, Site Gallery, Sheffield
Commissioned as part of Art Sheffield 2016, London-based artist Hannah Sawtell’s exhibition @dividend_plus explores image production, creative commons and economics. The centrepiece is a computer-generated moving image work which visitors can directly affect by first exchanging a new online ‘people’s currency’ for Sheffield, Dividend, to trigger an algorithm that interacts with the work. Also on show is a new electronic sound work played through bespoke speakers with strobe lighting that alters the atmosphere of the galleries.
Until 4 June 2016. www.sitegallery.org
Charles Richardson, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter
Recent Slade School of Fine Art graduate Charles Richardson explores themes of male identity, social digitisation and contemporary cultural uncertainty in his latest work, Displacement Behaviour. The large-scale performative video work, which was created in collaboration with students from Exeter School of Art, seeks to navigate the idiosyncrasies, paradoxes and contradictions that permeate our contemporary ‘lifestyles’, while a number of sculptural objects linked to its production are also displayed as part of the installation.
Until 30 April 2016. www.exeterphoenix.org.uk
Images:
1. Dan Flavin, untitled (in memory of “Sandy” Calder) V, red, yellow, and blue fluorescent light, 10 ft. (305 cm) wide, 1977. Copyright 2016 Stephen Flavin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; courtesy of David Zwirner, New York/London
2. Michael Craig Martin, An Oak Tree, 1973. Copyright, Michael Craig-Martin
3. Edwina Bracken, Remote Proximities
4. Hannah Sawtell @dividend_plus, 2016. © the artist, courtesy Site Gallery and Vilma Gold
5. Charles Richardson, Friend, video still, 2015
