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.

Kounter Kulture private viewers

Statuephilia: The British Museum

I loved this morning's preview of the Statuephilia sculpture installation at the British Museum (i'd forgotten how fantastic this building is) - where visitors can discover five contemporary sculptures among the relics and artifacts in its galleries.

Damien Hirst's 200 spin-painted sculls are exhibited like a cabinet of curiosities in the Enlightenment Gallery.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s lumps of mummified animals are actually painstakingly morphed to form silhouettes of the artists' faces on the wall behind.

But the show-stealer is, of course, a pure gold Kate Moss by Marc Quinn, looking resplendent next to the Nereid Monument.
Dark Stuff, Tim Noble and Sue Webster


Mark and Kate! Siren, Marc Quinn

Vyner Street: gallery goers

Hot looks at the Wilkinson Gallery

Vyner Street: first Thursdays

This month's First Thursday (late night gallery openings) on Vyner Street didn't offer much in terms of new shows, but i loved Robert Currie's beautiful Vine Space installation: strips of video tape creating a tunnel affect.

8 days, 17 hours, 46 minutes and 21 seconds, Robert Currie

The Turner Prize invite

The Turner Prize

The Stuckists demonstrating outside this year's exhibition of Turner Prize nominees had a point - will we really look back in 200 years time with awe at a mannequin sitting on a toilet, next to some crusty cereal bowls?

Unlike the Stuckists, I can really enjoy conceptual art - when its fresh, shocking, inspiring or just funny. But my main gripe with this year's Turner Prize was that it was quite simply, mediocre.
The cereal bowls were part of Cathy Wilkes installation - a grouping of sculpture and found objects in a pseudo-domestic scene. It just felt done - hasn't this kind of work become a bit of a joke?

Goshka Macuga's chrome and glass sculptures were sleek and inoffensive - but i could somehow imagine them being created by some sort of Mayor of London-backed consortium at City Hall...

Mark Leckey's film of Felix the Cat among other mixed-media installations felt the most extensive of the lot - it looks like he is the favourite this year.

I found Runa Islam's films of delicately smashing crockery and tut-tut drivers in a sun-baked park the most compelling...

When there is so much exciting art out there, does this shortlist truly represent the best of British talent? Have a look at the Guardian's imagery and see for yourself..

The Stuckists' anti-Turner Prize flyer