The Artemisia Gentileschi effect: a surge of IRL art openings by women 

For the art world, September’s “back to school” feel has seen it become the month when major exhibitions and art fairs open. But with the instability of the post-lockdown market and the continued presence of online viewing rooms, this month’s flurry of shows opening in three-dimensional spaces in the UK feels even more exciting than usual. Interestingly, many galleries and institutions are focusing on solo shows by female artists. Let’s call it the Artemisia Gentileschi effect – the female Baroque painter whose postponed exhibition at the National Gallery is finally opening this autumn. Here are the other female artists also moving centre stage.

Maureen Paley is holding a show by iconic British conceptual artist Gillian Wearing from mid-September. Almost all the work was created during lockdown, with a surprising focus on painting. “Having represented myself in photography both as myself and as others, I wanted to see how paint and even the manner of painting could change my appearance,” Wearing explains. The show will include watercolour and oil self-portraits, together with a masked sculpture, and an augmented version of her collaborative film Your Views. The artist expands on the idea of the mask and identity, already ongoing motifs in her work, which have gained different layers of meaning in the wake of Covid-19. “Isolation can be overwhelming but can also provoke intense creativity,” says Paley.
Maureen Paley, 60 Three Colts Lane, London E2 (maureenpaley.com); 16 Sept – 25 Oct

The group show No Man Is an Island, at Almine Rech’s London space, explores the shift in physical and emotional relationships as something innately human – and valuable. Alongside pieces by Francesco Vezzoli and George Rouy is the work of emerging British artist Rhea Dillon, whose work questions the freedom of representation and experience. Although best known for film and photographic pieces, Dillon will be exhibiting two new paintings, which have a refreshing tactility. Touch here is presented as something we should all appreciate. 
Almine Rech, Grosvenor Hill, Broadbent House, London W1 (alminerech.com); until 26 Sept

Celia Hempton’s paintings at Southard Reid will be contextualised in a performative, physical space that incorporates structural blocks and wall paintings. Various canvases in her signature impasto style will also be on show, including a self-portrait nude, Surveillance paintings made from CCTV internet feeds and portraits of anonymous strangers discovered on the pornographic website Chat Random. “The variety emphasises her technical virtuosity,” says gallerist Phillida Reid. 
Southard Reid, 7 Royalty Mews, London W1 (southardreid.com); 5 Sept – 24 Oct

Sadie Coles’ autumn openers include a show by Klara Lidén. Now based in Berlin, the Swedish artist – who is affiliated with Manhattan’s Lower East Side art scene and has also had solo shows at Vienna Secession, Brussels’ WIELS and Dijon’s Le Consortium – specialises in work that is conceptual and performative and often touches on the architectural strangeness of urban spaces. This show includes plastic tanks containing cables and wiring. Covered in graffiti, these elements of city life are imbued with a monumental feel – a miniature 21st-century take on monoliths. 
Sadie Coles HQ, 1 Davies Street, London W1 (sadiecoles.com); until 24 Oct

Gallerist Pilar Corrias is putting on a show by emerging indigenous Chamorro painter Gisela McDaniel. Highly political and incredibly vibrant, McDaniel’s paintings touch on survival and healing following sexual trauma and racially motivated violence, and also incorporate audio elements and motion-sensor technology – works that literally talk back at the viewer. “Her paintings are about healing and regeneration, both of which, of course, are extremely important as we try to identify a way forward for society,” says Corrias. McDaniel exhibited as part of last year’s Dhaka Art Summit with similar work. Here, her female-identifying protagonists look out with a sense of strength and power. 
Pilar Corrias, 54 Eastcastle Street, London W1 (pilarcorrias.com); 8-26 Sept

The 105-year-old Cuban artist Carmen Herrera is the subject of a second solo show at Alexander V Petalas’ former warehouse space in Bloomsbury, The Perimeter. Herrera has increasingly been positioned as the female counterpoint to minimalist luminaries such as Ellsworth Kelly or Barnett Newman, and shares their love of coloured shapes and graphic planes. The focus here is on work made in the 1980s and 1990s. Colour Me In will include paintings, wall reliefs and works on paper that celebrate Herrera’s take on geometry. 
The Perimeter, 20 Brownlow Mews, London WC1 (theperimeter.co.uk); 25 Sept – 8 Jan

Cecily Brown presents new work at the Duke of Marlborough’s Blenheim Palace that is inspired by its collection. Works by Van Dyck and Reynolds, as well as scenes from tapestries and heraldic imagery, have been reimagined in Brown’s furious abstract style. 
Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire (blenheimpalace.com); 17 Sept – 3 Jan