London Diary: 9 October

There’s a host of new shows opening in London this fortnight. To keep track, we’re rounding up the most interesting new openings every morning. For the full series, click here.

Paul Nash: Watercolours 1910–1946
9 October–22 November, at Piano Nobile

Paul Nash is best known for his powerful oil paintings from the First and Second World Wars, but his preferred medium was watercolour. This exhibition will be a welcome opportunity to rediscover his enigmatic works on paper. A defence of watercolour as a truly modern medium by the exhibition curator, David Boyd Haycock, can be read in the current issue of Apollo.

The Menin Road (1918), Paul Nash. www.piano-nobile.com

Damien Hirst: Schizophrenogenesis

9 October–15 November, at Paul Stolper

Damien Hirst has returned to the medicine cabinet and its candy-coloured pills – the hallowed ‘Cure’ for a quick-fix consumerist society. The artist’s new range of prints and sculptures will launch at Paul Stolper this morning. ‘Pills are a brilliant little form, better than any minimalist art. They’re all designed to make you buy them…’

Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates, courtesy Paul Stolper Gallery © Damien Hirst and Other Criteria, All rights reserved, DACS 2014 www.paulstolper.com

Sigmar Polke: Alibis
9 October–8 February, at Tate Modern

A seminal figure of post-war art, Polke’s experimentation is clear in this major retrospective which spans almost five decades.

Untitled (Quetta, Pakistan) (1974–8), Sigmar Polke © The Estate of Sigmar Polke / DACS, London / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Premonition: Ukrainian Art Now

9 October–3 November, at Saatchi Gallery

Most of the work in this exhibition predates this year’s unrest in the region, but a sense of change and instability permeates much of the work. The display was organised with The Firtash Foundation to showcase Ukrainian artists who are relatively unknown in Europe.

Beach (2012), Maxim Mamsikov © Maxim Mamsikov 2012. Image courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London

Which exhibitions are you most looking forward to this month? Have we missed something? Let us know in the comments.