Photo by Sarah Douglas

“The Future Can Wait” is a scrappy exhibition set up in a 22,000-square-foot space in a former brewery.

Photo by Sarah Douglas

A Greek collector showed interest in Aisling Hedgecock's "BAROCKARAMA" (2008).

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Welcome to the second edition of “The Future Can Wait,” a scrappy exhibition set up in a 22,000-square-foot space in a former brewery at the end of a strip of Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants on Brick Lane in London's East End. The event is the brainchild of artist and gallerist Zavier Ellis and film producer/director and art promoter Simon Rumley, who together run the production company Ellis Rumley Projects, and it’s founded on the idea of a “New London School” of artists who have worked or studied in London over the past ten to fifteen years. Call it the post-YBA generation. Their work, in mediums ranging from painting to sculpture to video and sound, goes for between £200 and £28,000, with much of it averaging around £1,500. The seductive sound installation, by Miranda Whall, carries an asking price of £900.

Half of the 48 artists here, who tend to be in their early 30s, exhibited in last year's edition. While all London-based or educated, they are not necessarily British-born; there are Swiss, Chinese, Taiwanese, Koreans, and many other nationalities represented, a testament to the city’s diversity. 

Ellis was a little peeved during the lead-up to Frieze week because news reports seemed to categorize “The Future Can Wait” as a fair. Not quite, he says. He prefers to see himself as doing something different — more curated — and says that while he acknowledges the value of art fairs, there may be too many of them. “The format is too repetitive,” he says.

He does think that “the satellite model works” — how better to get people to see your show than to hitch it to a major event like Frieze? — but believes that “We need an alternative to fairs. Our idea is to do something large-scale that is a good old-fashioned curated exhibition, a museum-scale show for emerging artists.”

As for how his event is faring in the shadow of a worldwide economic meltdown, Ellis seems surprisingly upbeat and self-assured. Last year, he says, “The Future” sold a lot of works before the show opened. This year, sales began after the opening, but have continued steadily. Sollectors have been through, as have gallerists like Helmut Schuster and Anita Beckers, both of Frankfurt.

Ellis says so far he has sold paintings, all of them figurative, by Emma Bennett (£4,500), John Stark (£4,500), Sam Jackson (£1,950), and Hugh Mendes (£1,300). A painting by Sarah McGinity (£5,700) is on reserve, and a Greek collector is interested in a large, algae-like sculpture by Aisling Hedgecock (£20,000). “It's slower this year,” Ellis says. “But in the end we actually may sell more than last year. There has been lots of activity. Some concrete, some almost there.” 

Ellis has big ambitions for his show; he plans to make it more international, and to have it travel, possibly to L.A. or Basel. Apparently the future can't wait.  

Sarah Douglas is Staff Writer at Art+Auction. She blogs at "The Appraisal."