After a month’s focus on the new new new, it's time to give a worthy nod to all the dead artists filling galleries at the moment. From Tom of Finland's muscle men to Derek Jarman's black paintings (above), here are the latest shows featuring art from the sadly deceased.
Fingers, hairy legs, shoes, hooded figures, doors. This painter’s work, which walked the line between abstraction and comic strips, only looks better and more relevant with time.
Pape couldn't be hotter right now – as with all things Brazil in the art world, it appears – and has a worth spot at Lisbon gallery Graça Brandão in the Back to the Future section at Artissima fair in Turin this weekend, which brings an eye back to overlooked artists from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
This double show is a reminder why Jarman was so influential – one floor is devoted to his ‘black paintings’ covered with twigs, toys and tack and upstairs is his meta-film piece Waiting for Waiting for Godot.
This artist is really dead but damn, he’s worth seeing. This is the largest show of the 19th century French artist in the UK who had an acidly good brushstroke and satirical dark take on life.
Counter Forms is an exceptional group show on visceral fleshiness and sexuality, including Thek paintings and sculptures, alongside gems by Tetsumi Kudo, Hannah Wilke and Alina Szapocznikow.
Pirodactyl over New York (1962)Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle
Niki de Saint Phalle was an early wild woman of art, best known for her blobby pop female figures (some of which are on show at Pop Art Design at the Barbican). This Paris show focuses on her earlier assemblages and her influential shotgun paintings.
This is the last weekend to catch the exceptional ode to photocopy art at Firstsite with some great word by 39 artists including some top dead ones like Bruno Munari (and great living ones from Wolfgang Tillmans to Barbara T. Smith).
One of the founders of Pop Art, and the only woman, Boty is a worthy inclusion in this fascinating exhibition of international Pop objects. She died at only 28 but was an icon of feminism after her death in the 70s. Wikipedia her incredible life.
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