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

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Viewing Incubator—21

Above Nathalie Hollis, “A Pawn in My Plan” (2021)

Above Richard Burton, “Buffer” (2021)

Above Hawazin Alotaibi, “softboii” (2021)

Above Nathalie Hollis, “A Pawn in My Plan” (2021)

Above Richard Burton, “Buffer” (2021)

Above Hawazin Alotaibi, “softboii” (2021)

Incubator—21  
7 October — 14 November 2021
 A. Society, Chiltern Street, London
 https://incubatorart.com

An important platform for emerging artists, Incubator—21 is the brainchild of Angelica Jopling, the daughter of art dealer Jay Jopling and artist Sam Taylor-Johnson. Currently showing at A. Society in Chiltern Street is a series of back-to-back week-long solo exhibitions of the most exciting young talent working in London right now.

The six artists featured are Hawazin Alotaibi, Richard Burton, Charlie Gosling, Nathalie Hollis, Anne Carney Raines and Nick Sanderson. Exhibited works span portrait painting, sculpture, performance art and sound installation, and reflect the energy and culture of London in this post-pandemic moment. Concluding the project is Not Here (2021), an immersive sound installation by Angelica Jopling and sound artist Noah Berrie. Catch it while you can.

Viewing Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize

The Wick Culture - Merna Beasley, Kurtijar Woman from the series Tribute to Indigenous Stock Women by David Prichar

Above Merna Beasley, Kurtijar Woman from the series Tribute to Indigenous Stock Women by David Prichar

The Wick Culture - Shirley Mary Ann McPherson, a Kurtijar woman from the series Tribute to Indigenous Stock Women by David Prichard

Above Shirley Mary Ann McPherson, a Kurtijar woman from the series Tribute to Indigenous Stock Women by David Prichard

Above David by Katya Ilina

The Wick Culture - Miyashita San, from the series Hakanai Sonzai, by Pierre-Elie de Pibra

Above Miyashita San, from the series Hakanai Sonzai, by Pierre-Elie de Pibra

Above Merna Beasley, Kurtijar Woman from the series Tribute to Indigenous Stock Women by David Prichar

Above Shirley Mary Ann McPherson, a Kurtijar woman from the series Tribute to Indigenous Stock Women by David Prichard

Above David by Katya Ilina

Above Miyashita San, from the series Hakanai Sonzai, by Pierre-Elie de Pibra

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize  
10 November 2021 — 2 January 2022 
Cromwell Place, South Kensington
 https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/twppp2021/exhibition/

On Monday 8 November 2021 Sydney-based photographer David Prichard was named the winner of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, one of the most prestigious photography awards in the world. His winning portraits of First Nations stock women who have spent most of their working lives on cattle stations in Queensland, Australia, are now on display at Cromwell Place in South Kensington.

Reflecting on the series, Prichard said: ‘I have always been respectful of cultural and social sensitivities and subsequently built trust with the community, which led me to be invited to photograph the women. The project is not about me. I am only the vehicle for the women to tell their stories.’

Also featured in the exhibition are Pierre-Elie de Pibrac’s large-scale portraits taken in some of Japan’s most troubled regions including Fukushima and the former mining town of Yubari. Katya Ilina’s entry, David, is taken from a series of portraits that celebrates positive body image and questions notions of masculinity and femininity by highlighting their fluidity. De Pibrac and Ilina won second and third prize respectively.

The prize-winning photographs and those selected for inclusion in the exhibition were chosen from 5,392 submissions entered by 2,215 photographers from 62 countries. Speaking to the inner qualities of resilience, patience and persistence, these images hypnotize and will stop you in your tracks. Book tickets now.

Viewing Noah Davis

The Wick Culture - Noah Davis, David Zwirner

Above Noah Davis, David Zwirner

Noah Davis
8 October — 17 November 2021
David Zwirner, Grafton Street
https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2021/noah-davis

Noah Davis was a genius talent who died too young. In August 2015 he succumbed to a rare form of cancer, just three months after turning 32. But his legacy lives on, as a brilliant new solo show at David Zwirner proves.

As well as being a gifted painter, Davis was co-founder of the Underground Museum, an artist-and family-run space dedicated to the exhibition of museum-quality art in a culturally underserved African American and Latino neighbourhood in Los Angeles.

Organised by Helen Molesworth, former chief curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, this exhibition highlights both parts of Davis’s practice. On display are a group of his rigorously composed paintings as well as models, artworks and archival materials that tell the story of the Underground Museum.

Using a notably dry paint application and a moody palette of blues, purples, and greens, Davis made figurative paintings that nod to artists like Marlene Dumas, Kerry James Marshall and Luc Tuymans. But his pictures can be slightly deceptive, says Molesworth. ‘They are modest in scale while being emotionally ambitious.’

At Zwirner, there are paintings from everyday life, such as a portrait of his young son, and paintings tinged with a hint of magical realism. You’ll encounter ‘surreal images that depict the world both seen and unseen, where the presence of ancestors, ghosts, and fantasy are everywhere apparent,’ adds Molesworth. These paintings demand slow, considered looking and show Davis to be one of the brightest stars of his generation.