With the seventh edition of the British Art Show about to open at London's Hayward Gallery, bringing together 39 up-and-coming artists under the somewhat ominous rubric of "In the Days of the Comet" (after the H.G. Wells book), it felt like a good time to do our own more modest selection of the most exciting artists working in the United Kingdom today. (Three of our picks are part of the BAS7, too — suggesting we share similar tastes with co-curators Lisa Le Feuvre and Tom Morton.) Here are five artists we think you should keep your eye on in Britain.

CHARLES AVERY
Born in Oban, Scotland, in 1973
Represented by Pilar Corrias

View Slideshow: New Comets: Five London Artists to Watch

In 2004 Charles Avery chose to dedicate his life to the documenting of a fictional island. In an extraordinary body of works including drawings, texts and sculptures, the artist records the isle's daily life and the progression of his avatar, the "Explorer/Hunter," on this mysterious elsewhere. On Avery's island, eating gin-pickled eggs is an addiction, snakes have one arm, and a beast — the Noumenon (after Kant's "thing-in-itself") — lives hidden in the hinterlands. In his ongoing series, simply called "The Islanders," philosophy meets fantasia.

ALICE CHANNER
Born in 1977 in Oxford, U.K.
Represented by The Approach
Upcoming Show: "Body-Conscious," March 18-17

Alice Channer succeeds where many other artists have failed: her delicate sculptures manage to address fashion design without ever being obvious or heavy-headed. The artist casts elastic material (cut out of leggings) in aluminium to create dainty hoops that she hangs on thin dowels. Her large, wrinkled sheets of hanging paper combine the majesty of ceremonial kimonos with an overpowering monumental presence. Bangles are turned into rose marble bases. In each piece, an absent body materializes.

ANTHEA HAMILTON
Born 1978 in London
Represented by IBID Projects
Upcoming Show: A group show at Danielle Arnaud, February 26 - March 27

Anthea Hamilton choreographs mundane objects in precise arrangements, often articulated around the silhouette of a leg — her own. This metonymic self-portrait gives her pieces a latent erotic tension that at once contrasts with and is enhanced by the items surrounding them. "Leg Chair" has two translucent leg shapes pasted with photographs and spread apart on a pedestal to create the "chair"'s back: the body is available, offered. But there is a palpable sense of irony to Hamilton's compositions — making her body the focal point of her practice, the artist subtly reclaims it.

NATHANIEL MELLORS
Born in 1974 in Doncaster
Represented by Matt's Gallery, London
Upcoming Show: Institute of Contemporary Arts, March 9 - May 15

For "Ourhouse," Nathaniel Mellors's latest and most ambitious project to date, which he began last year, the artist has devised a six-part drama set in a derelict mansion in the English countryside. A family of oddballs living under the heel of their authoritarian father, "Daddy," go about their business while a mysterious character, "The Object," devours books from the library — each newly consumed volume supposedly bringing a new narrative twist to the series. Mellors's
investigation of language's impact on reality has moments of dead-parrot humor, hints of Pasolini, and slices of absurdist theater. If TV were a bit more like this, I'd watch it more often.

HAROON MIRZA
Born in 1977 in London
Represented by Lisson
Upcoming Show: at Lisson, February 15 - March 19

I remember strolling through Chelsea College of Art and Design for the MA
student show in 2007 and stopping, intrigued, in front of a noisy piece of shabby furniture by Haroon Mirza. Less than four years later, the artist is represented by the prestigious Lisson Gallery and seems to be the name on everybody's lips. His assemblages of retro objects, sampled sounds and snippets of video footage function as self-contained gesamtkunstwerks attempting to reassess the relationship between the sonic and the visual. On the menu of his forthcoming show: Kenyan drums, wedding rituals, and Fred Sandback.