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Britart's young pretenders
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent27 Nov 2008
A TOWER of video cassettes, an installation of abandoned glasses and slowed-down footage of the moon in orbit. It's the art of the future.
All are among the work of 12 artists chosen as the best post-graduates at the University of the Arts London.
The university, which consists of six colleges including Central Saint Martins and Chelsea College of Art and Design, invited an external panel of curators to make the selection of the most promising talents.
The judges were headed by Ekow Eshun, director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts. They included Medeia Cohan, an assistant curator of Arts London, and Vincent Honoré, the curator of the
David Roberts Arts Foundation,
whose gallery is hosting the show.
This meant the panel had already done the slog of touring the student shows - the stamping grounds where real collectors like Charles Saatchi go to talent-spot.
Mr Honoré said: "The media these artists work in is diverse but there is a real sense of a coherent generation emerging. There are artists here that are full of potential. I'll definitely be watching them closely."
However, many of them make it difficult to understand their promise, describing their pieces in language as abstract as their art. William Bradley, 28, who studied fine art painting at Wimbledon, described his work Sock It To Me as looking "to confront abstraction's enduring ties to certain pivotal moments in Modernism". The exhibition embraces video, painting and even fashion. There is a collection of bags for men and women by Nuntanit Govitvattana, 27, from the London College of Fashion.
Future Map is an annual exhibition which has acted as a launch pad for many artists. Nick Hornby, whose work has been seen in Selfridge's and who was named by Time Out magazine as a rising talent, was in the show last year.
He said: "Through [Future Map] I met 19 other rather brilliant artists, several galleries and as a result the work went on to be shown in Clifford Chance in Canary Wharf then Kay Saatchi's Anticipation show and is now installed in Sony BMG's headquarters."
But it is the first time the University of Arts London has worked with property developer Mr Roberts. His charitable foundation and gallery, One One One, is based at 111 Great Titchfield Street in the West End. The show opens tomorrow and runs until 23 December. Prices range from £375 to £7,500. Admission is free.
Reader views (1)
What a load of absolute rubbish. Art? It is an excuse for Art. Disgusting!
- Wq (Ex Pat), Frankfurt, Germany, 27/11/2008 14:51
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