Kiefer's Walhalla at White cube, Gavin Turk at Newport St

Gavin Turk at Newport Street Gallery + Anselm Kiefer – Walhalla at White Cube SE1

The best of 2016 – at the start of 2017

The best of what ive seen in 2016 – quite a lot of art shows, not enough plays, gigs and movies…too much TV !

The best art shows 2016 – I would love to have made it to Den Bosch for the much heralded exhibition of Hierynomous Bosch works at his birth place. Clive Anderson mentioned it on Front row and said it was worth the trip, even though The Prado reneged on its commitment to send the phantasmagorical “Garden of Earthly Delights”- his best known masterpiece. Oh well, Madrid here I come.

London is a great place for art lovers. The Tate is constantly reaching for new heights, which is keeping the competition on their A game. My most disliked show of the year ; Abstract Expressionism was at the RA and had so many admirers. Today I went to The Newport Road Gallery for the new Gavin turk show. I was amazed to see a room of Pollocks, accompanied by the photos of him pouring the paint on to the canvas on the ground, as seen at the RA.

“Is this a Gavin Turk show or a Jackson Pollox show ?” I ask an attendant.

“No, It’s Gavin Turk, it just looks like Pollocks…” she replies.

“Err, yes ,I could have told you that”, quick as a flash, I counter.

“Look at the signatures” she says to my back as I take my leave.

“Blimey, they are just like the originals” I told my buddy. “He looks just like him in the pictures as well”.

Gavin Turk is not only a great artist, he is a good impressionist, and his humorous works generally work, without the joke wearing thin and grating. A difficult trick to pull off. I enjoyed the room devoted purely to a blue plaque dedicated to himself. The Sid Vicious in a Perspex tank is a nod to the host's most famous work – Damien Hirst’s Shark in a tank – “The impossibility of living ….etc“ or is it called “1000 years “? I love Hirst titles.

There are some skilful models like Tussauds waxworks. We were staring at one; A Captain Birdseye type with HMS Ulysees emblazoned on his hat, when it suddenly burst into laughter. Another waxwork – Turk again looking like a tramp, is standing in the middle of the floor, you have to look twice when you walk past. Cool, clever and fun, the self-absorption seems playful rather than self-obsessed, which is how Sarah Lucas’ shows leave me feeling.

“This is the best yet” declares Chris. “And this gallery is fantastic”.

“I liked the Jeff Koons, the artist was impressed with Hirsts’ collection on the TV show they did together.” But yes I agreed, this is the best show so far in this fledgling space, even though parking around here is a whole new experience of one-ways leading to cul-de-sacs leading to estates with strictly no parking signs everywhere you look. All in a zone so quiet you only see learners and the odd Parcel Force van driving around all day.

In stark contrast, I leave my Hornet directly outside The White Cube on Bermondsey St when I visit the Anselm Kiefer show, Walhalla. Forget fun and laughs, this is as heavy a show – literally and metaphorically – as you are likely to see in London this month. A dimly lit corridor is filled with empty beds, the lead covers turned back as if the occupants have popped off somewhere. The galleries are often staggering in the scope, ambition and often stunning finish and effect of the works they contain. Huge works fashioned from lead, shellac, clay and acrylic paint hang from the walls, often depicting a smashed and destroyed urban landscape. Post war German cities come to mind as the bombed out buildings seem to be smoking following a recent shelling. Piles of bicycles and beds are contained in Perspex display tanks. A row of lead dresses hang from a rail in another, then an upside down tree almost touches the ground in the next work. The inventive use of these most difficult, obdurate and unbending of materials to work with is a marvel to behold. The artistic beauty of some of the pictures, with metallic blues and yellows adding to the effect of decay and destruction lends ever more power to this incredible show. Valhalla was a way into the Viking afterlife, the Valkyries were the women who accompanied the dead on their journey. A spiral staircase disappears into  the ceiling of the gallery, the clothes hanging from the steps a clue to the intended meaning of the Germanic titles of the works.

A must see, the best of 2016 ? Kubrick at Somerset House was great fun, as was Art Night by the ICA. Picassos portraits were a treat, but this show would have beaten all comers. Well, art world of 2017 ? You’ve got 51 weeks to go. Lets see what you’ve got .