RA Magazine's pick of this week’s art events (24 - 30 May)

_{Michael Landy, 'Multi-Saint', 2013. Mixed media. 458 x 165 x 157 cm. Michael Landy, courtesy of the Thomas Dane Gallery, London © Michael Landy, courtesy of the Thomas Dane Gallery, London / Photo: The National Gallery, London.} Michael Landy: Saints Alive
National Gallery, until 24 November 2013
As an artist whose most famous work, Breakdown (2001), involved the destruction of all his possessions, Michael Landy was a radical choice for artist-in-residence at the National Gallery – the two are “unlikely bedfellows” the Academician confesses in the latest issue of RA Magazine.

Landy presents at the gallery large-scale kinetic sculptures in response to the martyred saints shown in the collection, each work acting out in some macabre, absurd way a saint’s legendary death.

Their form might be more William Heath Robinson and Jean Tinguely than Old Master, but these visitor-operated works have a sense of excess similar in spirit to that of gory religious paintings.

Jupiter Artland: Summer season
Jupiter Artland, 25 May – 15 September 2013
This weekend Jupiter Artland, an endearingly named sculpture park about 25 minutes from the centre of Edinburgh, opens its doors to the visitors for the summer season this weekend.

_{Sam Durant, 'Scaffold', 2012. Wood, steel. 10.3 x 14.5 x 15.8 m / 33.73' x 47.47' x 51.77' ft.}

New works on view include American artist Sam Durant’s Scaffold (2012), a huge wooden platform that affords great views over Arthur’s Seat and beyond, which joins magical pieces already in situ by artists such as Academicians Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Cornelia Parker.

_{Mariana Castillo Deball, 'Tree Trap Oaxaca', 2013. Paper squeeze, wool and cotton paper. Botanical Garden, Oaxaca, Mexico. Co-commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery, Cove Park and CCA Glasgow. Courtesy of the artist and Wien Lukatsch, Berlin.} Mariana Castillo Deball
Chisenhale Gallery, until 14 July 2013
This weekend I’m looking forward to visiting the solo exhibition by Mexico-born artist Mariana Castillo Deball at Chisenhale Gallery, London, following its presentation north of the border at CCA in Glasgow.

Deball’s installation of sculptures, prints, drawings and found images makes connections between disparate ways of looking at the world, from the artistic eye of Eduardo Paolozzi RA – whose personal archives she closely studied – to the archaeological perspective of Alfred Maudslay, who researched Mayan ruins. For example, she uses Maudslay’s papier-mâché technique for casting ancient objects to capture the form of trees from across the world.

Sinta Tantra
Holland Park, until 4 November 2013
RA Schools alumna Sinta Tantra creates kaleidoscopic cut-vinyl works that line the interior or wrap the exterior of buildings (for instance, at the recent Liverpool Biennial; for a review read this blog from last year).

_{Installation view of Sinta Tantra's 'The Eccentricity of Zero ', Holland Park. Courtesy Sinta Tantra.}

Lately she has been producing free-standing sculptures in different forms, all adorned with astute arrangements of bright, angular shapes. She has just installed a new work in glass in the bucolic environs of Holland Park; The Eccentricity of Zero (2013) comprises two massive transparent circles enlivened by interior geometry in primary colours.

_{Pablo Picasso, 'Harlequin and Companion', 1901. Oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm. © The State Pushkin Museum, Moscow.} Becoming Picasso – Paris 1901
Last chance: Courtauld Gallery, until 27 May 2013
And a quick reminder that the Courtauld’s outstanding show on Picasso closes on Bank Holiday Monday.

It takes the fascinating form of a focus on his works of 1901, where he started to mature as a young artist, moving towards his Blue Period and producing memorable early works such as Child with a Dove and Harlequin and Companion.

Sam Phillips is a London-based arts journalist and contributor to RA Magazine

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