Exhibitions

George Stubbs: ‘all done from Nature’

George Stubbs: ‘all done from Nature’ presents the first significant overview of this renowned eighteenth century artist-scientist in Britain for more than 30 years. The exhibition brings together 80 paintings, drawings and publications from the National Gallery’s life-size portrait of the stallion Whistlejacket to pieces never previously seen in public. Alongside his celebrated paintings of horses are some of the first credible paintings of ‘exotic’ animals in Western art, including a rhinoceros, moose, cheetahs and many others. In order to understand the natural world, Stubbs taught himself anatomy and produced forensic drawings of humans and animals at different stages of dissection. These are presented in the exhibition alongside the finished paintings, and the skeleton of the greatest ever racehorse, Eclipse. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated publication that includes new writings and extensive catalogue entries. A version of the show will tour to the Mauritshuis in The Hague where it will be the first-ever exhibition on the artist in the Netherlands.

We would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to the George Stubbs: 'all done from Nature' Circle of Friends, including David and Jennifer Adams, George and Kirsty Anson, The British Sporting Art Trust, Robert and Felicity Waley-Cohen, Charles and Jane Whitbread and those who wish to remain anonymous. The exhibition has been funded through a grant from the Weston Loan Programme - a scheme created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund to directly fund and empower regional and smaller local authority museums to borrow major works or collections of art from the UK’s national museums and galleries.

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MK Calling 2020

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Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning

Curated by Gilane Tawadros, with the artist "A chilling, revelatory show" ★★★★ Florence Hallett, the i "Subtly and without neat punchlines, this exhibition slowly drags into view an embedded history of the African people who came to Britain" ★★★★ Hettie Judah, The Guardian Ingrid Pollard (born Georgetown, Guyana) is one of the leading figures in contemporary British art. This first major survey of her 40-year career includes delicately hand-tinted landscape photographs, a flotilla of small ceramic boats and a cast of protagonists that includes boxers, musicians, tango dancers and writers. The exhibition also includes two new works – a film that meditates on the human body as it moves through space and time, and a triptych of monumental, dynamic sculptures that reference our shared history of power relations and resurgence. Pollard is renowned for using portrait and landscape photography to question our relationship with the natural world and to interrogate social constructs such as Britishness, race, sexuality and identity. Working across a variety of techniques from photography, printmaking, drawing and installation to artists’ books, video and audio, she combines meticulous research and experimental processes to make art that is at once deeply personal and socially resonant. This exhibition is supported by Freelands Foundation and the Freelands Award 2020. Pollard’s work is held in public collections including Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum. She lives and works in Northumberland, UK. Ingrid Pollard is one of four artists shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2022. Winner of the Freelands Award 2020. Exhibition supported by the Freelands Foundation, and a Publications Grant from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the Association for Art History. An Exhibition Organised by MK Gallery in partnership with Turner Contemporary.

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Memphis: Plastic Field

‘With their boldness, bright colours and cartoon demeanour, Memphis provided the board and pieces to play the game of life…’ Financial Times '... a luscious feast of eye-searing colours, polished synthetic surfaces and clashing patterns, executed with brash, swaggering brilliance...' The Guardian Memphis: Plastic Field explores the subversive and irreverent spirit of the Memphis Group, bringing together over 150 of the design collective’s most significant objects whose bold and playful look pushed boundaries and sparked a new era in International design. Their furniture was colourful, kitsch and geometric, drawing on Pop Art, Bauhaus and Art Deco to create an entirely new aesthetic full of punch and vitality. The sensory quality of the object was prioritised over function. Materials like plastic laminate and Terrazzo, previously used in kitchens and bathrooms, were suddenly incorporated into high-end furniture, and monochrome patterns of graphic shapes and squiggly lines paired with vivid yellow became an instant Memphis trademark. Founded by Italian designer and architect Ettore Sottsass, Memphis brought together an international collective of young designers united in their desire to inject humour into the design world and shatter the codes of the 20th century. When the group debuted its first collection at Milan’s Salone del Mobile in 1981 it caused a sensation, breaking the rules of streamlined modernism and challenging notions of functionality and good taste. Memphis changed the course of design, fashion, architecture, music and film. Founding Memphis member Martine Bedin wrote: “The same obsession always; can we imagine a new world by drawing another chair, another table, another light, another vase.” Following this call to action to ‘imagine a new world’, the Memphis group invites us to reconsider, reinvent, and rebuild a new visual language for the future. The exhibition at MK Gallery will feature the iconic designs created by the Memphis Group between 1981 – 1988, including work by important contributors such as Shiro Kuramata, Michele De Lucchi, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Martine Bedin, George Sowden, Michael Graves, Javier Mariscal, Marco Zanini, Aldo Cibic and Peter Shire. 'Memphis: Plastic Field' at MK Gallery is a reinterpretation of the exhibition shown at the The Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, Bordeaux 21 June 2019 to 05 January 2020 and Fondazione Berengo – Palazzo Franchetti, Venice 24 May to 25 November 2018. The exhibition is produced in partnership with Memphis srl, Milano with exhibition design by IB Studio, Milan (Architects Isabella Invernizzi & Beatrice Bonzanigo). With thanks to the Memphis Exhibition Circle including Oscar Humphries and those who wish to remain anonymous.

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Laura Knight: A Panoramic View

This major exhibition celebrates one of the most popular English artists of the twentieth century, a pioneering painter of performers, war and marginalised communities with a long and successful career that saw her break conventions and achieve many firsts for female artists. Laura Knight: A Panoramic View presents an in-depth look at Knight's career, bringing together over 160 works from public and private collections, including iconic works and rarely seen paintings and graphic works as well as designs for ceramics, jewellery and costume. This highly anticipated exhibition surveys Knight's career spanning almost a century - from her fascination with the backstage world of ballet and theatre and portraits of people's every day lives, to depictions of marginalised communities and racial segregation in America. Powerful commissions created as an official war artists during the Second World War will also be on display. A rare opportunity to see the largest exhibition of Dame Laura Knight in over 50 years at MK Gallery.

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