CAMBERWELL: A History of Drawing
This esoteric show, which launches next week, surveys practice and teaching at Camberwell College of Arts over an 80-year period. But dry it is not: featuring the work of over sixty artists, it highlights how the definition of drawing has expanded from lines on paper to 3D and digital space. It includes medical illustration, drawing machines, and moving image works by historical artists such as Edward Ardizzone, David Hepher and R.B. Kitaj through to recent graduates including Izat Arif, Adam Farah and Jennifer N. R. Smith. 16th Jan – 16th Feb, Camberwell Space, Camberwell College of Arts, 45-65 Peckham Road SE5
DULWICH: David Milne
Next up is a major exhibition at the Picture Gallery of one of Canada’s greatest modern painters, David Milne (1882-1953). Kicking off on Valentine’s Day, it will showcase, for the first time in the UK, a wide selection of oil paintings alongside watercolours, drawings and photographs. One idea we quite like is their Valentine’s gimmick of a quirky portrait painted of you and your beloved by guest artists. There’s also have the chance to make an unconventional keepsake to present to your other half (16th Feb, 6-10pm). Awww. More info. 14th Feb – 7th May, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road SE21
PECKHAM: CITE
The slightly annoyingly named lower-case bo.lee gallery starts 2018 (in its new SE15 home) with a show curated to ‘play with the norm’. With history and tradition constantly shaping the way we see, is it possible, they ask, to make something new without acknowledging the teachings and traditions of the past? From still life painting to the casting of metals, these five artists, including the rather talented Suzanne Moxhay, above, re-appropriate traditions with “a hint of nostalgia to a time before technology”. More info. 26th Jan – 17th Feb, bo.lee, 222 Rye Lane SE15