Graphic Design A History

Now in its second edition, Graphic Design A History is a weighty compendium that charts the history of graphic design from the 19th century to the present day.

David Shrigley: Brain Activity

Filled with a generous selection of works across a variety of disciplines, David Shrigley: Brain Activity highlights the artist’s ability to cross boundaries.

How 30 Great Ads Were Made: From Idea to Campaign

This fascinating book takes you behind the scenes of some of the best advertising campaigns from the last decade.

Gary Hume: Flashback

This book accompanies the third exhibition in the Flashback series, in which early acquisitions from key international artists are juxtaposed with newer works from British collections.

Critical Dictionary

This book is the incarnation of the group show at WORK gallery, which presents a whopping 24 artists from Simon Faithfull, and Paola Di Bello to Sophy Rickett and Simon Cunningham.

Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan

Boetti was one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century and a key member of the Arte Povera group.

A Question of Exposure

Tina Chang creates images that transcend their component parts to create a world where fantasy and desire dominate.

Documenting Quiet Spaces

American photographer, Bryan Schutmaat, is concerned with nostalgia and its representation within the context of the landscape of the American west.

Reality in Context

In his series, Fake Holidays, Reiner Riedler traverses the boundaries of place by examining reality within the context of the staged and created.

The Language of Political Dissent, Lis Rhodes: Dissonance and Disturbance, ICA, London

“Touching stories picked from a wound. Positive angles wrenched from their sockets,” reads a pair of lines from Running Light: a text that accompanies Lis Rhodes’ exhibition of the same name.

Maximum Identity Flux

A major Cindy Sherman retrospective opens at MoMA, probing gender and identity politics from all angles. The artist is in front of and behind the lens.

The Story of British Design

The first comprehensive exhibition to examine how UK artists and designers have produced acclaimed works, from post-war to the present day.

Political & Aesthetic Urgency

Showcasing over 150 works, this major exhibition examines the diversity and complexity of art produced during the tumultuous 1980s, a transformative time for culture and society.

Uncanny & Startlingly Real

Inviting a close examination of artworks based on commonplace objects and situations, Lifelike is an international, multigenerational group exhibition.

Juxtaposing Time & Place

Conversations: Photography from the Bank of America Collection is now on show at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

Visceral Representations

Pointing a camera at a band isn’t really filming a concert; Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall tell us how they made the Chemical Brothers’ Don’t Think seem so real.

Intelligent Criticism

It’s hated by artists, ridiculed by label owners and seems to have outworn its welcome by nearly two decades. So why is the label Intelligent Dance Music still being used?

Expressive Eccentricity

Jes Benstock chats about his latest film, which charts 40 years of sculptor Andrew Logan’s eccentric and kitsch Alternative Miss World beauty Pageant.

The Staves

Meet the Staves: three sisters from Watford in their early 20s compelling talents. Their second EP, Mexico, features three delicately assembled ballads.

A Return to Childhood

Puppet theatre is often associated with children’s theatre but can the dark honesty offered by inanimate objects connect with an adult audience?

One Man’s Treasure, Creative Stars: Lost is Found, Cornerhouse, Manchester

Found Objects have been popular as a medium since Robert Rauschenberg began experimenting with the discarded and lost in the 1950s. The idea of making something out of nothing was intriguing.

Home Grown, The F.E. McWilliam Gallery & Studios, Banbridge, County Down

Since its inception, The F.E. McWilliam Gallery has gained an impressive reputation for programming important retrospectives of Irish Modernists and innovative thematic exhibitions.

The Archaeology of Place, Zarina Bhimji, Whitechapel Gallery, London

Spanning 25 years of a practice embedded in historical and empirical research, Zarina Bhimji portrays buildings and architectural surfaces as “protagonists” in an unpeopled landscape of violence.

The Human Face of Climate Change, Last Days of the Arctic, Proud Chelsea, London

Last Days of the Arctic is a moving and insightful photographic portrait of a disappearing landscape and the Inuit people who inhabit it, by celebrated photojournalist Ragnar Axelsson.

Mark Power: The Sound of Two Songs, Impressions Gallery, Bradford

The Sound of Two Songs is Mark Power’s photographic survey of Poland, formed and collected over five years. He made his first visit to Poland as part of a project to capture countries joining the EU.

Existence at the Threshold, Alex Dordoy, The Modern Institute, Glasgow

Alex Dordoy’s work exists at the threshold of completeness and often retains the potential for change, or even destruction. He uses a range of materials including glass and plaster.

The Fundamental Collaboration between Maker; Material, Formed Thoughts, Jerwood Space

There are certain exhibitions whose titles are so ambiguous and nonsensical that even before attending the show you are met with a quiet sense of dread on whether you will get it.

Physical Manifestations of Information, Merseyside’s Leo Fitzmaurice wins Northern Art Prize

The fifth annual Northern Art Prize, worth £16,500, has been won by Merseyside-based artist Leo Fitzmaurice, it was announced at Leeds Art Gallery.

Manifesto for a Modern World, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska:Vorticist!, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge

Vorticist!, Kettle’s Yard’s latest show, draws deserved attention to a sculptor whose career was as important and impressive as it was brutally short.

A Fictional Institution with an Authoritative Voice, Museum Show Part II, Arnolfini, Bristol

Museum Show Part II, the second part of the Arnolfini’s ultimate 50th anniversary exhibition, continues exploring the preoccupations touched upon by Museum Show Part I.

Richard Mosse: Falk Visiting Artist, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina

Mosse is known for his restraining and aestheticised views of sites associated with violence and fear, such as his depictions of the war in Iraq, and his photographs of aeroplane crash sites.

Working Papers: Donald Judd Drawings 1963 – 93, Sprüth Magers London

An exhibition of drawings by Donald Judd opens tomorrow at Sprüth Magers London. Covering nearly the entire period he made three-dimensional work, the show is curated by Peter Ballantine.

Installation & Interactive Monuments, Brook Andrew: Travelling Colony, Carriageworks

This is not the sort of behaviour typically encountered in an art installation. In the foyer of Carriageworks, seven hand-painted caravans are being poked and prodded by curious audiences.

Creating Ideas Through Advertising, Terry Hall & Coggles

The importance of creativity in advertising has been widely recognised for decades. A creative ad campaign has to be both divergent and relevant.

Celebrating Contemporary Filmmaking, Global Lens 2012, MoMA New York

Global Lens is a touring film exhibition, organised annually between MoMA and the Global Film Initiative. It is designed to encourage filmmaking in countries with emerging film communities.

Unfinished World, Graham Sutherland, George Shaw, Modern Art Oxford

Graham Sutherland (1903-1980) was an official World War II artist from 1941-44. He was commissioned to paint scenes of bomb devastation, as well as work in mines, quarries and foundries.

Contemporary Art in Northern Ireland, Parliament Buildings, Stormont

Below the gilded King Edward VII chandeliers and between the Italian travertine engraved marble walkway the exhibition Contemporary Art in Northern Ireland is situated in The Great Hall of Parliament Buildings at Stormont.

Mette Winckelmann, We Have A Body, Den Frie Centre for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen

We Have A Body is a comprehensive solo exhibition by Mette Winckelmann. Winckelmann initiates a dialogue with Den Frie Centre for Contemporary Art’s architecture and history.

United Enemies: The Problem of Sculpture in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds

United Enemies brings with it the spirit of Arte Inglese Oggi – a 1976 British Council show featuring the work of many of the artists included – but concentrates on the complex nature of British sculpture in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Best Features from Aesthetica 2011 – In Pictures

This year the arts have been subject to a double squeeze – big falls in business contributions to the arts coupled with the much documented cuts to funding from the public sector.

Dislocated Flesh, Julien Ottavi; Jenny Pickett, Tenderpixel Gallery, London

Dislocated Flesh features the work of Julien Ottavi and Jenny Pickett. This new body of work stems from their long term collaboration exploring perception, memory and architecture.

Stretching the Physical Limitations of Art, Mark Handforth: Rolling Stop, MOCA, North Miami

Mark Handforth’s (b. 1969) Rolling Stop opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, for Art Basel Miami Beach. Curated by MOCA Executive Director Bonnie Clearwater.

The Language of Television, Dara Birnbaum, South London Gallery

The main room of South London Gallery is entirely taken up by Birnbaum’s Arabesque. Before even entering the room, the flowing piano of Robert Schumann’s composition Arabesque Opus 18 reaches out to draw one into the space.

Paloma Varga Weisz, Spirits of my Flesh, Chapter Gallery

Taking its place in Chapter’s 2011 roll call directly after Resident, WITH Collective’s über-conceptual Autumn show, Paloma Varga Weisz’s solo outing at the Cardiff gallery is a difficult one to approach.

A Peep Through The Looking Glass, Alice in Wonderland, Tate Liverpool

Since their original publication in 1865, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass have had an unprecedented influence on the visual arts.

Things Which Come Together; Then Fall Apart, Martin Boyce Wins The Turner Prize 2011

When Mario Testino announced Glasgow-based Martin Boyce as the winner of this year’s Turner Prize at the Baltic last Monday night, he accepted the award with modesty to the point of bashfulness.

40:40 – Forty Objects For Forty Years, Craft Council Online Exhibition Launches

The Craft Council celebrates 40 years of the Crafts Council Collection with a major online show 40:40 – forty objects for forty years that launches today.

Two New Collections From Aesthetica, Artists & Writers

At Aesthetica we encourage creativity and innovation, fostering artists and writers through the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition. This year’s competition saw a fantastic response.

Christophe Von Hohenberg, The Day The Factory Died, Coldharbour London Gallery

This December Coldharbour London Gallery will be exhibiting The Day The Factory Died, a collection of never-before published photos by acclaimed fashion photographer Christophe Von Hohenberg.

Photography Vs. Photography

This year’s August/September issue featured the work of Lara Jade, a fashion, portraiture and commercial photographer who has worked with brands such as Sony and magazines such as Elle.