The best art to see this February

Alex Lowery; Light Industrial – Dorset’s West Bay and the neighbouring island of Portland have become leitmotifs in Lowery’s practice. The marine light which is pervasive in all his work suggests the sea, while describing the forms that exist for the most part at the edge: the piers and jetties, warehouses, seafront houses, cliffs, shingle, concrete sea breakers. With the elegance and silence of modernist design, he composes still lives from light industrial subjects to create a distinctive beauty, empty of human form but largely focused on what is man-made. At Art First, 21 Eastcastle Street, London W21 from 21 Feb to 23 Mar. www.artfirst.co.uk

Dreams of Here: new work by Julian Bell, Tom Hammick and Andrzej Jackowski, three printmakers who are all nationally recognized and have strong connections to Sussex. At Brighton Museum and Art Gallery until 10 Jun. www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk

RWS Contemporary Watercolour Competition 2012
– successful entries on show from 24 Feb to 14 Mar at Bankside Gallery, 48 Hopton Street, London SE1 9JH. www.banksidegallery.com

Spencer’s Earthly Paradise – Stanley Spencer 50th Anniversary Exhibition. At the Stanley Spencer Gallery, High Street, Cookham, Berks until 4 Nov. www.stanleyspencer.org.uk

Maro Gorky: A Tuscan Landscape at Long & Ryle Gallery, 4 John Islip Street, London SW1 from 23 Feb to 24 Mar. www.longandryle.com

Between Sun and Moon – an exhibition of works from the estate of Terry Frost, one of Britain’s pioneers of abstraction. Beaux Arts London at 22 Cork Street, London W1 from 22 Feb to 17 Mar. www.beauxartslondon.co.uk

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Always in Light – paintings by Lydia Corbett at Francis Kyle Gallery, 9 Maddox Street, London W1 from 22 Feb to 22 Mar. www.franciskylegallery.com

Cutting Through – linocuts & watercolours by Liz Somerville at The Art Stable, Child Okeford, Blandford, Dorset from 25 Feb to 24 Mar. www.theartstable.co.uk

Paintings and Sketches Along the Ridgeway – an exhibition of work by Nick Schlee at Modern Artists Gallery, High Street, Whitchurch-on-Thames, Berks from 25 Feb to 9 Mar. www.modernartistsgallery.com

‘Two Friends…’ – Sir Lawrence Gowing RA (1918-1991) and Frederick Gore RA (1913-2010) – works for sale by the two artists, who exerted a formidable influence upon the British establishment and art education. At Highgate Contemporary Art, 26 Highgate High Street, London N6 from 22 Feb to 10 Mar. 020 8340 7564

Exhibition of works by photographer Robert Adams
, drawings in charcoal by painter Robert Bechtle and pencil drawings of photographs by British artist Ewan Gibbs, all three of whom create deeply personal yet iconic images of America. At Timothy Taylor Gallery, 15 Carlos Place, London W1 from 23 Feb to 24 Mar.  

Lithorrgraphy: Chris Orr RA and the Art of Chemical Printing – exploring the method and madness featured in the lithographs of one of Britain’s foremost artist printmakers, renowned for his technical mastery, joyfully anarchic subject matter and thought provoking content. At Tennant Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1 from 23 Feb to 20 May. www.royalacademy.org.uk

The Great White South: a new exhibition of rare antique polar photographs – the first prints made in 1913 from the negatives taken by Scott of the Antarctic’s official expedition photographer Herbert G Ponting. Unveiled for the first time in a century at Atlas Gallery, 29 Dorset Street, London W1 from 23 Feb to 5 Apr. www.atlasgallery.com


CLOSING SOON

Formed thoughts: explores the fundamental collaboration between maker and material in the forming of concepts and works. Curator Clare Twomey brings together work by artists Pheobe Cummings, Glithero and Tracey Rowledge. At JVA in Jerwood Space, 171 Union Street, London from 18 Jan to 26 Feb.
Visit www.jerwoodvisualarts.org

Miracles and Charms- near death experiences
, secret charms and miraculous events – exploring the extraordinary in the everyday with two shows: Infinitas Gracias: Mexican miracle paintings, and an exhibition of unseen London amulets from Henry Wellcome’s collection, selected by the artist Felicity Powell and displayed alongside her work. At the Wellcome Collection, The Wellcome Trust, 215 Euston Road, London NW1 from 6 Oct to 26 Feb 2012. www.wellcome.ac.uk

Inaugural exhibition of new Halcyon Gallery, with glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly, at 144-6 New Bond Street, London W1 until 28 Feb. www.halcyongallery.com

Enid Marx: The Breuning-Eve Gift – an exhibition of the designer, illustrator and printmaker who died in 1998. At Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester from 10 Jan to 26 Feb. www.pallant.org

Jerwood Makers Open
– an exhibition of newly commissioned pieces by jeweler Farah Bandookwala, ceramic artist Emmanuel Boos, glass maker Heike Brachlow and installation artist Keith Harrison, who were selected from over 200 entries. At Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh EH1 from 13 Jan to 25 Feb. www.dovecotstudios.com

Jeremy Deller: Joy In People. This exhibition will incorporate almost all of the Turner Prize winner’s major works to date and new pieces as a mid-career survey. At Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, from 22 Feb to 13 May.
Tel: 020 7921 0887 or visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Renee So: The work in this exhibition recalls the history of anthropomorphic ceramic ware with their gradual stylization and abstraction over time and their multi-purpose function. At 27 Old Nichol Street, London from 18 Jan to 25 Feb.
Tel: 020 7613 0515 or visit www.katemacgarry.com

Back to the Future: features the work of seven emerging artists whose interests lie in investigating temporally distant aesthetics, objects and images. Unlikely imagery and forms are drawn together in complementary arrangements, creating new languages and examining old ones. At Breese Little 30d Great Sutton Street, London from 26 Jan to 25 Feb. Visit: www.breeselittle.com

In Profile: An Exhibition of New Prints by Derek Boshier. Six etchings pictorialising political and social issues and events. The exhibition will also include drawings from the artist’s 2009 suite Urban Vex. At Huguenot Editions, 8 Huguenot Place London from 26 Jan to 25 Feb.
Tel: 0208 8749138 or visit http://www.huguenoteditions.com

Neale Howells – American Mama Gun Run
. At John Martin Gallery, 38 Albemarle Street, London W1 from 3 to 25 Feb. www.jmlondon.com

Precious and Primal – an exhibition of sculptures and drawings by Fiona Campbell at Bruton Museum, 26 High Street, Bruton from 1 to 29 Feb.  

Rob Pointon – Widening the Artistic Perspective in Shropshire – solo exhibition at Millard & Lancaster, 8 St Mary’s Street, Shrewsbury until 28 Feb. 01743 289866

Pastel Society’s 113th Exhibition
. Featured Artist David Tremlett. Forget the traditional idea of pastels being a delicate, temporary media and experience three-dimensional reliefs in pastels. From 14th Feb-25th Feb 2012. At Mall Galleries, The Mall (near Trafalgar Square) London SW1Y Tel: 020 7930 6844 or visit www.thepastelsociety.org.uk