Too much, too young

The exhibition selectors would like to point out this is no ordinary end-of-term graduation show. The dozen or so young artists chosen from the five colleges of the London Institute have that 'indefinable something' that simply can't be measured by exam success. This is, they say, 'star quality'.

Well, what about those other slippery 'somethings', such as, say, talent? Does the irrepressible self-publicist Mark McGowan have it? He was the guy who rolled a peanut with his nose from New Cross to Downing Street and here you can read about the progress of his latest venture, travelling by shopping trolley from Peckham to Glasgow. He showed up at Bloomberg New Contemporaries last year, but if his star was ever twinkling, it should certainly have burned out by now.

Poor video artists. In group shows such as this they never seem to get a fair crack of the whip: the usually appalling sound quality ensures we rarely hear what's going on. But, gripe over, there is some good work here. The most eye-catching is Rhys Himsworth's portrait of a youthful male contemplated by his ancient waxwork self.

Young artists were once allowed to develop before they took part in glittering promotional exhibitions.

Now they're expected to be 'stars' the minute they sign up for art school. It works for the few, but that leaves the rest of us trawling through an awful lot of not very good stuff.