What’s Hot? with Francesca Gavin
What's hot? This new monthly column from author and curator Francesca Gavin brings together exhibitions that somehow connect in terms of content, aesthetics or approach. Following on from her regular ‘In Five Words’ exhibition reviews on the gowithYamo app, this monthly column dives deeper into the shows that are resonating in London’s galleries and museums.
Gray Wielebinski: Bring Me Men, Nicoletti
Gray Wielebinski’s new body of work in the solo show ‘Bring Me Men’ takes her signature fascination with masc Americana and mixes it with a brilliant dark take on assemblage. Though with a knowledge of queer art history can see the echoes of Derek Jarman and David Wojnarowicz here, but these sculptural works and wall collages place things in a very contemporary context. Wielebinski’s fascination with masculine identity is configured through the gaze of trans query. The show asks what a man is and how that condition and experience are created. These beautifully composed works are made with ripped magazine pages, latex gloves, school stationery, boxes and paint to create a very contemporary idea around queer growth, teen query and emotional intimacy.
Prem Sahib: Kin, Phillida Reid
Prem Sahib’s practice ranges from sculpture to installation, sound to performance, and his current solo exhibition at Phillida Reid is no different. Deeply rooted in the counter-cultural experience of gay club culture and existence, Sahib’s work reveals the marginal and ignored existence of queer identities. In his exhibition, a looping projection of the shadow of a stray dog wanders in the darkly lit gallery to the thumping bass. This slim, unsure canine figure, created with digital animation and projection mapping, is an interesting take on urban existence. Alongside this are a series of abstract’ horizon paintings’ – small acrylic panels made by injecting paint on the reverse. This poetic show is accompanied by a series of poems by the artist, with lines including “Hum, hum, hum to form a salve.”
Anne Imhof: Citizen, Sprüth Magers
Anne Imhof's aesthetic is a perfect take on queer rebellion. This solo show highlights the breadth of her work – moving beyond the performance installations that blast her into the cultural zeitgeist. Here you can discover everything from drawing to film to painting to wall sculpture. The show is an expansion on her project DOOM, exhibition at Museu de Serralves, Porto and New York’s Armory Drill Hall – her caught in an abstracted four-channel film installation ‘Citizen’. Some of the most notable works are the bronze reliefs of queer characters with oversized hands in a report or embracing. Her drawings here have been transformed into something monumental, like the work of Durer to the soundtrack of Sunn O))). Pencil drawings and oversized paintings are presented against the context of a black patinated locker room furniture. This work is dark, pensive and as ever rooted in the body.
Until 4 July 2026 , Gray Wielebinski: Bring Me Men, Nicoletti, 91 Paul St, London, EC2A 4NY
Until 25 July 2026, Prem Sahib: Kin, Phillida Reid, 10 - 16 Grape Street, London, WC2H 8DY
Until 1 August 2026, Anne Imhof: Citizen, Sprüth Magers, 7A Grafton Street, London, W1S 4EJ
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