Ithell Colquhoun, Tate Britain review - revelations of a weird and wonderful world

★★★★ ITHELL COLQUHOUN, TATE BRITAIN Revelations of a weird and wonderful world

Emanations from the unconscious

Tate Britain is currently offering two exhibitions for the price of one. Other than being on the same bill, Edward Burra and Ithell Colquhoun having nothing in common other than being born a year apart and being oddballs – in very different ways. And since both reward focused attention, this makes for a rather exhausting outing – I’m reviewing them separately – so gird your loins.

Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons, Dulwich Picture Gallery review - teeth with a real bite

★★★★ RACHEL JONES: GATED CANYONS, DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY Teeth with a real bite

Mouths have never looked so good

I first came across Rachel Jones in 2021 at the Hayward Gallery’s painting show Mixing it Up: Painting Today. I was blown away by the beauty of her huge oil pastels; rivulets of bright colour shimmied round one another in what seemed like a joyous celebration of pure abstraction.

Yet hidden within this glorious maelstrom of marks were brick-like shapes representing teeth; Jones is fascinated by mouths and the dentures that, literally and metaphorically, guard these entry points to our interior being.

Yoshitomo Nara, Hayward Gallery review - sickeningly cute kids

★ YOSHITOMO NARA, HAYWARD GALLERY How to make millions out of kitsch

How to make millions out of kitsch

It’s been a long time since an exhibition made me feel physically sick. The Hayward Gallery is currently hosting a retrospective of the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara and the combination of turquoise walls and oversized paintings of cute kids turned my stomach over. Kitsch has that kind of power.

Hamad Butt: Apprehensions, Whitechapel Gallery review - cool, calm and potentially lethal

★★★★★ HAMAD BUTT: APPREHENSIONS, WHITECHAPEL GALLERY The YBA who didn’t have time to become a household name

The YBA who didn’t have time to become a household name

Hamad Butt studied at Goldsmiths College at the same time as YBAs (Young British Artists) like Damien Hirst and Gillian Wearing; but whereas they would become household names so their work is now familiar, he disappeared from view. It makes his Whitechapel retrospective feel like a rediscovery – incredibly fresh and immediate.

Bradford City of Culture 2025 review - new magic conjured from past glories

★★★★ BRADFORD CITY OF CULTURE 2025 City, mill and moor inspire the city's visual arts offering

City, mill and moor inspire the city's visual arts offering

Botanical forms, lurid and bright, now tower above a footpath on a moor otherwise famed for darkness and frankly terrible weather. But the trio of 5m-high contemporary sculptures grow in place here, drawing life from limestone soil. These metallic buds, blooms and supersize tubers reflect a deep, tropical past that predates the very English landscape we now associate with this part of the world.

Bogancloch review - every frame a work of art

★★★★ BOGANCLOCH Living off grid might be the meaning of happiness

Living off grid might be the meaning of happiness

Director Ben Rivers is primarily an artist, and it shows. Every frame of Bogancloch is treated as a work of art and the viewer is given ample time to relish the beauty of the framing, lighting and composition. Many of the shots fall into traditional categories such as still life, landscape and portraiture and would work equally well as photographs.

Do Ho Suh: Walk the House, Tate Modern review - memories are made of this

★★★★ DO HO SUH: WALK THE HOUSE, TATE MODERN Memories are made of this

Home sweet home preserved as exquisite replicas

A traditional Korean house has appeared at Tate Modern. And with its neat brickwork, beautifully carved roof beams and lattice work screens, this charming dwelling looks decidedly out of place, and somewhat ghostly. Go closer and you realise that, improbably, the full-sized building is made of paper. It’s the work of South Korean artist Do Ho Suh (main picture).

Echoes: Stone Circles, Community and Heritage, Stonehenge Visitor Centre review - young photographers explore ancient resonances

The ancient monument opens its first exhibition of new photography

Stonehenge is about 5,000 years old; three photographic artists currently exhibiting in the visitor centre are all under the age of 25. The juxtaposition of 21st century and the ancient world has been facilitated by Shout Out Loud, a youth engagement programme from English Heritage, custodians of this historic monument. In collaboration with Photoworks, this gives rise to the first ever exhibition of new photography at the site.

Hylozoic/Desires: Salt Cosmologies, Somerset House and The Hedge of Halomancy, Tate Britain review - the power of white powder

 ★★★ HYLOZOIC/DESIRES: SALT COSMOLOGIES, SOMERSET HOUSE AND THE HEDGE OF HALOMANCY, TATE BRITAIN A strong message diluted by space and time

A strong message diluted by space and time

The railways that we built in India may be well known, but I bet you’ve never heard of the Customs Line, a hedge that stretched 2,500 miles across the subcontinent all the way from the River Indus to the border between Madras and Bengal – the distance between London and Istanbul. Comparable in scale to the great Wall of China, this 40-foot high barrier was created to prevent the smuggling of salt.