Tony Cragg
The spinning, tottering eccentricity of this playful British sculptor’s unpredictable abstractions mirrors modern scientific understandings of space and time. Cragg maps out mathematical yet unruly forms that suggest matter collapsing into a black hole or the quirks of the quantum. Just as string theory posits beauty and order underlying the cosmos, Cragg’s convolutions create satisfying shapes out of apparent chaos, revealing inner nature in Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s open landscape.
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, nr Wakefield, 4 March to 3 September
Madonnas And Miracles
What was art for in Renaissance Italy? It was not just for looking at. Images of the Madonna had magical power. They could be wheeled out to protect a city or revered at home. Beauty, too, was a magical thing, protecting and nurturing. In this exhibition, combs, jewellery, furniture and other everyday objects show how Renaissance people used art in their lives.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 7 March to 4 June
Mark Wallinger Mark
One of the cleverest British conceptual artists keeps getting cleverer, and more mordantly witty, with each exhibition. Here, in a show called Mark Wallinger Mark – not just his name but also the “mark” made by an artist, geddit? – he continues his self-referential examination of art, identity and the psyche. It includes his Id Paintings, which mirror his own physical dimensions and play on the concept of the id in psychoanalysis.
The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh & Dundee Contemporary Arts, 4 March to 4 June
The American Dream
When the British Museum came up with this exhibition’s title, it probably didn’t mean it ironically. Then we entered the age of Donald Trump, who prefers to speak of “American carnage”. So there is a nostalgic quality to this look back at the days when the US inspired the dreams of the world. Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol are among the modern greats whose visions dwell on flags and Coke bottles, famous faces and grisly deaths.
British Museum, WC1, 9 March to 18 June
Syngenta Photography Award
Growth and conservation are the themes of this photography competition open to both professionals and amateurs. This is the age when that line has become increasingly blurred as camera technology evolves into something more democratic – and the difference between a selfie and a self-portrait harder to see.
