Exhibition of the week
Edmund de Waal
Can ceramics be art? Edmund de Waal makes the answer seem obvious. His minimalist displays of coolly beautiful ceramic objects seductively straddle the old gap between art and craft. Modernism and ancient influences elegantly combine in art at once beautiful and thought-provoking.
• Turner Contemporary, Margate CT9, from 29 March until 8 February 2015.
Other exhibitions this week
Phyllida Barlow
The British sculptor has created a sprawling, epic jumble of wood and colour that fills a massive area of Tate Britain's central galleries. It complements their exhibition Ruin Lust by looking like a huge piece of apocalyptic urban debris.
• Tate Britain, London SW1, from 31 March until 19 October.
Wu Chi-Tsung
This Taiwanese artist presents an installation called Dust that traces the shadows of floating dust particles, as well as Crystal City 003, a shadow-play cityscape.
• Site Gallery, Sheffield S1 from 4 April until 31 May.
Master Prints Selected by Michael Craig-Martin
Some of the best artists of our time, including Richard Serra, Howard Hodgkin and Ed Ruscha, star in this survey of the modern print.
• Alan Cristea Gallery, London W1S from 28 March until 2 May.
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham
The late works of a notable British abstract painter get a well-deserved airing.
• Art First, London W1W until 17 May.
Masterpiece of the week
Diego Velázquez – Philip IV of Spain in Brown and Silver (c1631-2)
The king's costume is a shimmering marvel of ethereal silver speckled over brown, yet it is oddly subversive in the way it distracts attention from his pasty face. The clothes are more real than the man. Philip IV himself is a weak and fading figure in this painting, which does the job of court portaiture and yet makes the monarch seem a nonentity under the profound, ironic scrutiny of one of the world's most serious artists.
• National Gallery, London WC2N.
Image of the week
What we learned this week
More than we perhaps wanted to know about Lady Gaga's vomit artist
What the most shocking images from America's race war are
Why hardcore photographer Nan Goldin wanted to get high from such an early age
What Frida Kahlo's life was really like, courtesy of her personal photo albums
The 11 photos that sum up American cool
About Laser Cat, who shoots artworks from his eyes
That Howard Hodgkin said: 'Once I stop painting, start measuring my coffin'
That artists foretold the first world war
Who art's most controversial duos of all time are
That graphic artist Noma Bar has come up with a fun colourful new way to master Chinese
Why Gagosian is the Starbucks of the art world – and the saviour
And finally …
It's your last chance to share your art about ruins before the new theme is announced
