From Mr Jean-Michel Basquiat to Ms Rachel Whiteread – the galleries to get along to in the new year.

Ah, here we are in 2018. The parties are decidedly over, your gym induction looms and you’re already beginning to anxiously re-consider those hastily-made new year’s resolutions. What better time to immerse yourself in – or, yes, distract yourself with – some transformative art. In fact, though it may seem like not much new happens in the grey haze of January, there’s plenty left to see, art-wise from the tail end of last year – in fact, many of 2017’s biggest and most blockbuster-y shows are open to the end of the month, and this is your last chance to see them. It’s worth saying too that there is nowhere quite like a cool, echoing gallery in which to stroll loftily around wearing your new Christmas garments, a reinvented and superior being. Or to chill out a little bit in between elbowing people aside at the sales. Whatever way you choose to do it, here are five UK exhibitions closing in January that you’d be mad to miss.

Leeds Art Gallery Until 21 January 2018

Leeds Art Gallery was closed for renovation for the most part of 2017, but reopened in October to unveil a beautiful and previously hidden ceiling in the gallery, plus a handful of new collections and shows including ARTIST ROOMS: Joseph Beuys. Mr Beuys was a groundbreaking artist working in post-war Germany whose multifaceted artwork across pretty much every medium possible (he even wrote a pop song) reverberated through the art world until his early death in 1986. The works in this exhibition have been collected and drawn from the Tate’s ARTIST ROOMS and the National Gallery of Scotland and contain Mr Beuys’ infamous “Scala Napoletana”, a tall wooden ladder held with taught wires between two enormous lead weights, which was created to represent themes of death, and was completed in the months preceding the end of Mr Beuys’s own life.

Whitechapel Gallery Until 21 January 2018

Such is the stylish, timeless appeal of Mr Thomas Ruff’s photography, you’d be excused for thinking many of his photographs were taken from the pages of a recent independent photography publication. To prove this is not the case, in this exhibition at London’s Whitechapel Gallery we are allowed a glimpse into a broad range of Mr Ruff’s work, through his trademark Passport series to lesser-known shots taken between 1979 and 2017. Excellent viewing for anyone even slightly interested in photography. Mr Ruff is the ultimate master of making it look easy.

**The Barbican ** Until 28 January 2018

There was – and still is – a lot of excitement surrounding this exhibition chronicling the life and work of one of New York’s most famous art and pop culture icons: Mr Jean-Michel Basquiat. The fascinating thing about this show is the attention it gives to Mr Basquiat’s ability to ingest the music, art and culture of New York in the 1970s and 1980s and expel it out through his work on canvases, sheets and basically anything upon which he could scrawl his trademark slogan “boom for real”. The show succeeds in highlighting the importance of Mr Basquiat to the history of pop culture, while also shining a light on the untrained artists in an era of racial injustice and turbulence in a rapidly changing cultural climate.

Tate Britain Until 21 January 2018

In 1993, Ms Rachel Whiteread was the first woman to be awarded the Turner Prize, and the knowledge of this makes witnessing 25 years of her work in the gargantuan splendour of the Tate Britain a rather emotional experience. This expertly-curated exhibition pulls together classic pieces and also some previously unseen works, and proudly displays her concrete-filled shed “Chicken Shed” outside the gallery on the lawn. This show has a wide appeal, but will be particularly interesting to engineering types, who may enjoy pondering how exactly these works were brought inside and constructed within the building.

Jerwood Gallery Until 7 January 2018

Jerwood Gallery Until 7 January 2018

Experience Ms Paula Rego at her finest in this honest, self-reflecting show of prints, drawings, paintings and sculptures. The exhibition showcases the artist’s passion for storytelling and the prominent effect it’s had on her work over the decades. The title is inspired by a story penned by Portuguese novelist Ms Hélia Correia which provided Ms Rego’s starting point for the exhibition. Any fans of Mr Francis Bacon or Mr David Hockney will love this show for Ms Rego’s extraordinarily expressive use of colour and for the personalities of the characters, friends and loved ones who reside in her paintings. It’s also worth saying that if you have children in tow, this exhibition could be an excellent and enjoyable induction for them into fine art.