Exhibition of the week
Douglas Gordon
The dark imagination behind 24 Hour Psycho sees the light with a show that celebrates neon.
• Gagosian Davies Street, London, until 14 January.
Also showing
Sin
Tracey Emin, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Rembrandt all depict sex and scandal in this entertaining show on tour from the National Gallery in London.
• York Art Gallery until 22 January.
Horror in the Modernist Block
Artists including Shezad Dawood, Ola Hassanain and Richard Hughes explore the sinister crannies of modernist architecture.
• Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, until 1 May.
The Colour of Anxiety
Racial fears and imperial tensions uncovered in Victorian sculpture.
• Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, until 26 February.
British Art Show
Michael Armitage, Joanna Piotrowska, Tai Shani and many others in a sprawling survey of the new.
• The Box, Plymouth, until 8 January.
Image of the week
We asked top artists to embrace AI – with creepy results. A new generation of software is creating strong images, challenging notions of human artistry. One of our testers, the 2012 Turner prize winner Elizabeth Price, said: “I quickly became fascinated by how it was putting images together; how that process differed from the human mind.” See what Mat Collishaw, Gilbert and George, Gillian Wearing and more made of the experiment in our feature.
What we learned
Indonesian collective ruangrupa topped the latest art power list – despite an antisemitism row
Queerness is out front at Art Basel Miami
The regeneration of Thamesmead’s brutalist utopia was botched
Criticism is mounting of Berlin’s “climate-killer” museum
Tarot cards are revealing Leonora Carrington’s surreal genius
Ukraine’s artists are taking on Putin’s Russia
The co-designer of the National Gallery’s Sainsbury wing has waded into the row over its revamp
A battle has erupted over the Museum of London’s about-to-close main site
Sydney Modern is a new cultural superstar
Bondi bared all for Spencer Tunick
Prix Pictet has released a new book of mind-bending female photography
A rare self-portrait by Max Beckmann broke auction records for German art
Masterpiece of the week
The Oba sacrificing leopards, from Benin City, c1500s-1600s
This masterpiece of Benin art pulses with character, life and power. It’s one of many brass and bronze reliefs that once decorated the palace of the Oba, the ruler of the west African kingdom of Benin in today’s Nigeria. European accounts and depictions from the period when it was made bear witness to the magnificence of this building with its metal sculptures of soldiers, snakes and birds, all sharing this plaque’s punchy beauty. In this scene, the Oba performs an animal sacrifice that was part of the coronation ritual – apparently swinging two leopards by their tails. But it is not necessarily a realistic portrayal as he also has two fish with bulging eyes sprouting from his waist. His armoured and bejewelled body is as strong as a tree, his face peeps out of a world of metal. This is one of many extraordinary works of art looted in a British “punitive” attack on Benin in 1897.
British Museum, London
Don’t forget
To follow us on Twitter: @GdnArtandDesign.
Sign up to the Art Weekly newsletter
If you don’t already receive our regular roundup of art and design news via email, please sign up here.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@theguardian.com
