Young at art

As British contemporary art beats all odds to remain a cauldron of inventiveness and passion, Carla Passino discovers which artists aged 40 or under are on the radar of forward-looking museum directors and curators

- Carla Passino

A PRESERVED shark, two fried eggs and an unmade bed changed the course of art. A little more than 30 years ago, a new generation of Young British Artists (YBAS) came onto the scene and caught the world's eye. Soon, Cool Britannia ruled not so much the waves as global culture, with its music, theatre, films -and the works of Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas, Tracey Emin and many others. The YBAs have long since come of age, the Arts are increasingly sacrificed to budget cuts and an obsession with technology and the mood in the country feels a little gloomier than it did back then. 'It is a difficult time to be working in the UK, with a struggling economy and high living costs; artists are also faced with lower fees and fewer opportunities, acknowledges Priyesh Mistry, National Gallery associate curator, Contemporary and Modern projects.

And yet. Creativity remains unbridled. 'My perspective is that the contemporary-art scene is probably more dynamic than it has ever been,' says Jennifer Powell, director of The Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham. 'I think that might be because there has been so much threat to creative endeavour that, actually, artists are finding ways to carry on.' After all, as Will Gompertz, director of the Sir John Soane's Museum in London, says, 'young artists are people of passion and conviction: they are determined that they have something to say, which they want heard'.