Gillian Wearing @Whitechapel Gallery
Visited 05.05.12
A huge collection of Wearing's work ranging from the early 90s to present day.
The collection carries a real sense of performance throughout, from the 1997 piece 10-16 to  Signs that say what you want them to say, and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say, Wearing's iconic collection of photographs. I particularly appreciated Wearing's focus on the traumatised, and her apparent exploration of relationships, passion and aggression. 
Wearing's work really resinated with me, having never seen it in a gallery setting before I found it really powerful. I left the gallery with a real  sense of Wearing's work that I previously did not understand. 

Lucian Freud - Portraits
National Portrait Gallery
Visited 18.04.2012
The critically acclaimed retrospective of artist Lucian Freud.
A perfect opportunity to see the most famous paintings by Lucian Freud, all in one place. Planned before his death, this exhibition showcases Freud's life work, developing style and the relationships he made.
Never having seen Freud's work in person, I was surprised to see the incredible texture of the pieces that I had always imagined to be smooth. It was possible to see every movement of the brush the artist had made, the layers of paint, and the hours it took him to paint them.
I was particularly interested in Freud's latest work and found the unfinished work particularly poignant.

Worth the wait and the ticket price.