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 Samantha Thornton

After years spent as a specialist at Sotheby’s Old Master Sculpture Department, Samantha Thornton decided to try her own hand at creating striking sculptural works — a cancer diagnosis inspired her to waste no time. Now, a selection of her bronze and stone creations are on view at Bernard Chauchet Contemporary Art, demonstrating her interest in exploring different techniques and effects with the alternating materials. With her bronze works, Thornton starts with wax, building realistic figures whose fluid body movements contrast with the rigidity of the medium. However, her stone carvings are far more abstract, painstakingly hammered, chiseled and hand polished with sandpaper to create curving arcs with unexpected angles and points. Through these two styles, Thornton meditates on her interest in the human form, prompted by her illness and her experience of using that time to focus on her body and its healing.

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Dates
08 February 2022 — 13 February 2022
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Viewing Creating Abstraction

Head over to Pace’s recently opened Hanover Square Gallery to see an exhibition of works by seven female artists whose experimental approach to material and engagement with Modernism pushed the boundaries of abstraction.

You’ll encounter paintings, textiles, works on paper, video, photography and installations by such celebrated names as Barbara Hepworth, Yto Barrada and Louise Nevelson. Also worthy of note are the modular sculptures of Saloua Raouda Choucair, a pioneer of abstract art in Lebanon; and the graphic works of Italian artist Carla Accardi, which explore the formal and spatial effect of line, shape and gesture.

By including works by 20th- century and contemporary artists this exhibition shows Modernism’s enduring legacy and the ways in which various Modernist movements have been disseminated and interpreted by artists around the world. It offers a chance to discover each artist’s ground-breaking work and the broader context of their practice.

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Dates
03 February 2022 — 12 March 2022
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Viewing Sujin Lee

Saatchi Yates’ new solo show is poised to catapult the self-taught Korean artist Sujin Lee onto the world stage. Born in Korea’s Jeju Island, Lee studied visual communication before turning to painting as a source of creative freedom. ‘The picture gave me the feeling that there is infinite possibility,’ she has said.

Comprising 20 paintings ranging from small portraits to large group scenes, Lee’s new body of work celebrates female friendship and sisterhood. Expect to see female figures holding hands or nestling up to one another against surrealistic backdrops of bowed branches, flowing fronds and towering tree trunks.

Inspired by her own lived experience and the landscape of her hometown, Lee prompts us to consider our relationships with ourselves and others as well as hers to her work. ‘What are these girls? Is this me? Or is this just a painting?’ she asks.

Needless to say, Lee’s future’s looking bright. Hop to it.

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Dates
02 February 2022 — 26 March 2022
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The Wick Culture - Yeonjoon Yoon, Gavin Poole, Conrad Shawcross, Tristram Hunt at UMBILICAL

Happenings Conrad Shawcross: UMBILICAL at Here East

Happenings
The Wick Culture - Gallery view of the 2025 Summer Exhibition
Photo: © David Parry/ Royal Academy of Arts

Happenings RA Summer Party

Happenings
The Wick Culture - Katy Wickremesinghe at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Happenings Rachel Jones at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Happenings
The Wick Culture - Katy Wickremesinghe at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Happenings Rachel Jones at Dulwich Picture Gallery

Happenings
The Wick Culture - The Weston Collections Hall at V&A East
Storehouse, including over 100 mini
curated displays ‘hacked’ into the ends
and sides of the storage racking. Image by Hufton + Crow for V&A

Happenings V&A East Storehouse

Happenings
The Wick Culture - Shezad Dawood

Happenings Chain of Hope at Saatchi Gallery

Happenings