Giuseppe Penone: A Tree in the Wood
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, 26th May to 28th April 2019
In the planning for many years, this is a significant tribute to a major Italian artist too little known in Britain. And there could be nowhere better than the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, with its specimen trees and rolling hills. Penone, born in 1947 in Piedmont, describes trees as “not a subject but much more, they are the substance itself of my work.” Whether his medium is bronze, clay, marble, photography, large drawings constructed from acacia thorns or entire trunks, trees have been his central preoccupation. Through them he explores the connection between the body, memory, time and our environment.
Edward Bawden
Dulwich Picture Gallery, 23rd May to 9th September
Graphic designer, book illustrator, print maker, muralist, Edward Bawden rejoiced in ordinary British life—beach holidays, farmyards, market towns, railways. And also animals (see below). He was also a fine watercolourist, jointly responsible for the medium’s 20th-century revival. This is the first full-scale retrospective since his death in 1989, and includes a number of previously unseen works. Also on view will be 18 compelling portraits from his time as a Second World War artist.
Lee Bul
Hayward Gallery, 30th May to 19th August
Lee Bul grew up as South Korea changed from military dictatorship into a democracy, all the while facing off with North Korea. Her provocative, exuberantly inventive work encompasses painting, sculpture, performance and installation. This ambitious mid-career survey will include her most significant sculptures from the 1990s and 2000s but also new works, such as a recent series of silk velvet paintings.
