The V&A, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL • March 23 – August 11, 2013

More than a tour through an icon’s golden years, David Bowie Is lays on a retrospective that paints a vivid portrait of the man & the music.

“Water and boats often feature in his landscapes, and they do here, with the human figure sometimes floating on or above water. The people are ghostly and ethereal, creating an air of mystery, of things just happened, or about to happen.”

Bluecoat Chambers, Liverpool, L1 3BX • November 14, 2012

Habibi Problem by Cielaroque Dance Company tells the story of Iranian student Mehdi Kazemi. Homotopia Festival 2012.

“The Arabic word ‘Habibi’ is the male form of ‘darling’ or ‘my beloved.’ Cielaroque have devised a piece that, with its use of split screen filmed animation, is able to tell two stories at once – that of the escaped man and that of his imprisoned lover.”

Open Eye Gallery, 19 Mann Island, Liverpool, L3 1BP • September 15 – November 25, 2012

Mark Morrisroe: Late Photograms, at Liverpool’s Open Eye Gallery. Homotopia Festival 2012.

“At art school in Boston, Morrisroe was a prize-winning student as well as a drag performer and founder of the underground magazine Dirt. His photographic work continued and developed a punk aesthetic.”

Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street Liverpool, L3 8EL • November 11, 2012

David Hoyle’s Archetype, at Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery. Homotopia Festival 2012.

“We were led by Hoyle into different rooms, bejeweled with bright pre-Raphaelite canvases, Victorian history paintings, Rembrandt portraits and medieval masterpieces, to be met with a performer in each”

Michael Werner Gallery, 22 Upper Brook St, London, W1K 7PZ • September 27 – December 22, 2012

An exhibition of pictures by Peter Doig confirms his position as one of the most significant painters working today.

“Water and boats often feature in his landscapes, and they do here, with the human figure sometimes floating on or above water. The people are ghostly and ethereal, creating an air of mystery, of things just happened, or about to happen.”

Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, London, N6 5HG • September 19 -30

Bryon Fear is impressed by the haunting images in Dan Hall’s photography.

“If this excellent debut exhibition is anything to go by we can expect Dan Hall to engage us emotionally and intellectually with many more future retrospectives..”

The Old Sorting Office, New Oxford St, London – WC1 • August 5-31, 2012

House DJ David Guetta and artist Mr Brainwash, Thiery Guetta, put on an exhibition that is defined by hype but is in the end more than hype.

“At that moment, I stopped caring about the Mr Brainwash hype machine, whether he is real or whether his art says anything, and I became truly moved by something that was in front of me.”

Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4BB • June 22 – October 28, 2012

Tate Liverpool, in conjunction with the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, have brought together the later works of Turner, Monet and Twombly for a remarkable exhibition.

“It’s incredible to think that there are only three generations between these artists but, as this show illustrates, all were engaged in a radical reinvention of what painting is; and it’s this experimental energy that is passed on directly between them.”

Interview with curator Colin Ginks

I Am This Also is an exhibition at Liberdade Provisoria in Lisbon that looks at what queer art means in an age when so much its imagery has entered the mainstream.

“I wondered if I was going to get indifferent reactions to this project because banal, queer-informed, imagery has invaded the visual mainstream in so many ways.”

Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE2 9TG • April 4 – September 9, 2012

This retrospective, argues Michael Langan, shows Hirst for what he is: a man with limited ideas whose best days are far behind him.

“The central problem is that much of Hirst’s work simply doesn’t bear repeated viewing. It’s based on impact as an artistic statement but this is no longer the shock of the new but the kind of impact that, once it’s worn off, leaves a vacuum.”