London art fairs

Without doubt the highlight of my week at the London art fairs was certainly not the supermarket-like Frieze, but the smaller, fresher exhibition of young London artists - The Future Can Wait on Brick Lane.

The beautifully cavernous and stark space in the Old Truman Brewery beat the Regent's Park cubicles for one thing. And there was no braying... and no pushing or shoving. Just space and time to absorb and enjoy some really exhilarating art work.

Some of it was irreverent and more than a little bit crude - a video of a lady snogging a dog (yes really), some of it was moving (Helen Dowling's Breaker), and some was just plain beautiful - the giant coral-like polystyrene sculpture by Aisling Hedgecock, or the compelling portrait of a Girl with the Lipstick by Sarah McGinity. There is most definitely a New London Scene to watch.

Aisling Hedgecock, Barockarama

Girl with the Lipstick by Sarah McGinity

Having said that, Frieze did offer up some flashes of inspiration - I loved the "happenings" - an undercover team of gigolos chatting up dealers' wives, a crazy Buenos Aires gallery that practically trashed its own stand, a reconstruction of Reykjavik bar Sirkus, and smoking booths where people tried to look relaxed having a fag and becoming "art" in a see-through pod.

Appetite Gallery, Buenos Aires

Smoking Booths, Norma Jeane

Apparently people were buying (some of the best stuff was snapped up before the fair even started)... but both the mood and the art at Frieze felt muted.