Exhibition of the Week
Agnes Martin
One of the greats, an abstract artist of minimalist rigour and ethereal craft whose vision is as pure as prairie rain.
• Tate Modern, London, 3 June until 11 October.
Other exhibitions this week
Duane Hanson
The eye-fooling sculptor of people so lifelike they make you doubt your own perceptions.
• Serpentine Gallery, London, 2 June until 13 September.
Julian Opie
Cool people reductively portrayed – is it glib pop art or a brilliant interpretion of the perceptual process?
• Alan Cristea Gallery, London, 5 June until 18 July.
Urs Fischer
One of the most interesting artists around reveals new provocations.
• The Modern Institute, Glasgow, 6 June until 29 August.
Alex Frost
Art about homeliness and domesticity made in a residency at the home of the late conceptual artist John Latham. The gallery is in danger of closure and needs support.
• Flat Time House, London, 5 June until 2 August.
Masterpiece of the week
Jean-Siméon Chardin – The House of Cards (c1736-37)
When will the house of cards collapse? Never. It is frozen in time by oil painting. Chardin’s still and silent composition invites us to concentrate on the boy’s calm intentness as he prepares to add one more card to his fragile creation. Life is arrested by art.
• National Gallery, London.
Image of the week
What we learned this week
Photos of a crumbling South African estate won the Deustche Börse 2015 photography prize
Shia LaBeouf’s awkward metamorphosis from troubled teen star to conceptual artist is complete
$90k is not a fair price for a stolen Instagram picture
A giant hippo is trying to save Athens
The creator of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, makes for quite a dull sculpture
Emoji is the UK’s fastest growing language
An old shoe polish factory was named London building of the year
Crocodiles, eels and sharks are surprisingly photogenic
Legendary street photographer Mary Ellen Mark died aged 75
A Jewish man was emotionally reunited with a painting looted from his family by the Nazis
Joanna Lumley charmed Boris Johnson into the garden bridge
It took Erno Rubik ages to solve the Rubik’s cube
William Morris should be a contender for the artist on the £20 note
Drawings of Nazis, cake and the Wizard of Oz have something in common
People have been obsessed with photographing animals since forever
Duane Hanson’s sculptures wouldn’t look out of place on the streets of the UK
People used to comb their shag pile carpets with a rake
And finally …
Share your art inspired by your dreams
Enter the Jonathan Cape/Observer/Comic graphic short story prize
