Our top picks of exhibitions together with cultural spaces and places, both online and in the real world.

All, Art, Auctions, Exhibitions, Travel & Hospitality, Initiatives

Viewing Martin Parr at Rocket Gallery

The Wick Culture - Martin Parr, No Smoking, Courtesy of Martin Parr and Rocket Gallery.

Above Martin Parr, No Smoking, Courtesy of Martin Parr and Rocket Gallery.

The Wick Culture - Martin Parr, Aoife and Shane's wedding, 2011, Courtesy of Martin Parr and Rocket Gallery.

Above Martin Parr, Aoife and Shane’s wedding, 2011, Courtesy of Martin Parr and Rocket Gallery.

The Wick Culture - Martin Parr, Space Coast, 1996, Courtesy of Martin Parr and Rocket Gallery.

Above Martin Parr, Space Coast, 1996, Courtesy of Martin Parr and Rocket Gallery.

Above Martin Parr, No Smoking, Courtesy of Martin Parr and Rocket Gallery.

Above Martin Parr, Aoife and Shane’s wedding, 2011, Courtesy of Martin Parr and Rocket Gallery.

Above Martin Parr, Space Coast, 1996, Courtesy of Martin Parr and Rocket Gallery.

Martin Parr No Smoking

Rocket Gallery
Unit 6B, 4-6 Sheep Ln
11 December 2024 – 31 May, 2025

While you’re in East London, The Wick suggests you head on to Martin Parr’s thirteenth exhibition at Rocket Gallery on Sheep Lane, open on Saturdays to the public until May (and at other times by appointment).

No Smoking centres around Parr’s ongoing interest in cigarettes (the show includes photographs from as early as 1970 and as recently as 2019) and the changing culture and attitudes towards smoking in Britain during the time Parr has been documenting it.

The exhibition is timed to coincide with the publication of Parr’s latest photo book of the same name by The Rocket Press, a survey of the way Parr has photographed smoking culture, why, and how we look at smoking has evolved as part of a wider wellbeing shift in society. Parr is also the subject of a new documentary film by Lee Shulman, I am Martin Parr – an unprecedented look at the revolutionary photographer’s life and work.

Viewing Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami at Gagosian

The Wick Culture - Takashi Murakami, Maiko in Springtime Kyoto, Gagosian

Above Takashi Murakami, Maiko in Springtime Kyoto, Gagosian

The Wick Culture - Takashi Murakami, Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP, Gagosian

Above Takashi Murakami, Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP, Gagosian

The Wick Culture - Takashi Murakami, Blue Dragon Soars Through the Universe, Gagosian, London

Above Takashi Murakami, Blue Dragon Soars Through the Universe, Gagosian, London

Above Takashi Murakami, Maiko in Springtime Kyoto, Gagosian

Above Takashi Murakami, Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP, Gagosian

Above Takashi Murakami, Blue Dragon Soars Through the Universe, Gagosian, London

Japanese Art History à la Takashi Murakami

Gagosian
20 Grosvenor Hill
10 December, 2024 – 8 March, 2025

Just opened at Gagosian is this feast of a show for art history buffs fans of the legendary, visionary Japanese artist, in which Murakami reinterprets historical, era-defining Japanese works of art. This retelling of history according to Murakami makes the viewer ponder social shifts in Japanese society and how those were eeked out in visual arts, as it opened up to the world after the long Edo period that prevented foreign entry between 1603 and 1868.

Modeled on iconic works held in Japanese national collections and inscribed in the national mindset, Murakami integrates his own responses and experiences to the collective, as well as his own kitsch Pop iconography – including smiling flower-faced figures and beloved Mr. DOB character. Some of the juxtapositions are also achieved by combining his sketches with AI generated images, continuing his interest in automation and technology.

Murakami also takes over the Gagosian’s Burlington Arcade space with new flower paintings, and at the Gagosian shop, a new limited edition T-shirt release inspired by one of the artworks in the main exhibition will be on sale. It’s a Murakami moment in London.

Viewing Jeff Wall ‘Life in Pictures’ at White Cube

The Wick Culture - 'The Thinker' by Jeff Wall, White Cube Bermondsey

Above ‘The Thinker’ by Jeff Wall, White Cube Bermondsey

The Wick Culture - Jeff Wall, After Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison the Prologue 1999-2001, White Cube Bermondsey

Above Jeff Wall, After Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison the Prologue 1999-2001, White Cube Bermondsey

The Wick Culture - Jeff Wall, Tattoos and Shadows 2000, White Cube Bermondsey

Above Jeff Wall, Tattoos and Shadows 2000, White Cube Bermondsey

Above ‘The Thinker’ by Jeff Wall, White Cube Bermondsey

Above Jeff Wall, After Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison the Prologue 1999-2001, White Cube Bermondsey

Above Jeff Wall, Tattoos and Shadows 2000, White Cube Bermondsey

Jeff Wall: Life in Pictures

White Cube Bermondsey
144 – 152 Bermondsey Street
22 November, 2024 – 12 January, 2025

“Some subjects require the absence of colour”, Jeff Wall has said. “That lack, that absence, also creates a disturbance in how you perceive. I think that disturbance does something that the pictures, when they’re successful, do – which is to be almost more lifelike than life itself.”

Over thirty years working with photography as his preferred medium, the American artist has created dazzling, rich choreographed tableaux, mixing the language of cinema and the pointed verisimilitude of photography to create a style he calls ‘cinematographic’. This major survey – timed to make three decades since Wall joined White Cube – charts the evolution of this style and method through forty works and over three decades.

This show demonstrates Wall’s level of artistic and technical mastery of the medium, from the precise staging, lighting and storytelling of the scenes he sets up to the way he manipulates images in post-production. Displayed as radiant light boxes or monumental-scale prints, this is a thrilling romp through the influential artist’s ouevre. Catch it while you can.