Crazy Colourful Sculpture By Joana Vasconcelos

Londonist Rating:

★★★★☆

We're fast becoming huge fans of Joana Vasconcelos's work. She stars in the current Venice Biennale as well as the last one — with a glowing garden of flowers and a magical undersea world on a boat, respectively. She's recently had a successful exhibition in Manchester, and now us Londoners get a chance to see her work. This exhibition is on display in Phillips auction house in their grand new building on Berkeley Square.

Expectations are set as we enter the show with a soundtrack of cheesy classics by the likes of Madonna, Queen and Springsteen. Visitors have to walk under a convoluted chandelier that looks haphazardly pulled together with lots of mismatched swatches of fabric, before coming face to face with what can only be described as a giant wasp wrapped in a doily.

The fun doesn't stop there with a large tentacled creature emerging from a mirror and the front gallery dominated by a massive pink sculpture that looks like a parade balloon decorated with fairy lights. The works are completely over the top and brought a smile to our face.

Downstairs are smaller works that are just as bizarre, with more creatures wrapped in crochet and more mirrored pieces, some hanging on a deep pink wall that ensures the colour overdose continues.

This show is colourful, playful, unabashedly feminine and tonnes of fun.

Joana Vasconcelos: Material World is on at Phillips, 30 Berkeley Square, W1J 5BF until 28 August. Entrance is free and it's open Monday-Saturday, 10am-6pm.

For more art to see in London, see our top openings and most talked about art exhibitions for July.