Summer is coming to Westside in the form of three corresponding exhibitions at the Ikon Gallery in Brindleyplace.
All three exhibitions, which are free to visit, are taking place between 10 May and 8 September.
The first of these sees Ikon, in Oozells Square, take part in National Treasures, a key strand of the programme celebrating the National Gallery’s Bicentenary, NG200.
Visitors to Ikon between May and September will be able to view a masterpiece by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1654 or later), entitled Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria.
National Treasures sees 12 partners, one in each region of the UK, receive a masterpiece from the National Gallery’s collection and curate around it. with all displays opening simultaneously on Friday 10 May, the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery’s opening in London.
Wrapped around the exhibition of Artemisia Gentileschi is a work by Irish artist Jesse Jones entitled Mirror Martyr Mirror Moon 2024 (main picture).
Fascinated by Gentileschi’s decision to title her work Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Jones explores the performative relationship between the artist and self-portraiture.
At the exhibition entrance is a stone trough with a self-portrait of Jones, while she also presents a new 16mm film involving an operatic work based on the landscape of Mount Sinai, where the body of St Catherine was mystically elevated after her martyrdom.
The final summer exhibition is Rue Britannia, the first major solo performance by artist Dion Kitson, in partnership with English Heritage.
Kitson, who grew up in Dudley, in the Black Country, and studied at Birmingham School of Art, produces work that is both playful and provocative, providing a candid account of the everyday and the banality of life.
Visitors to Rue Britannia are invited into the architectural installation, Council House of Kitson (2024), which recreates both the façade and interior of his father’s house, whose living room was also pebble-dashed.
For more information about Ikon’s summer exhibitions visit: www.ikon-gallery.org
ENDS
