Art zoos

As predicted, this week London is at the centre of the art world. With last night's Impressionist and Modern sale at Sotheby's fetching a record breaking £95 million (or 16% of the Gherkin) and tomorrow evening's Contemporary sale still to go (click here for a private view tour) ; one could be forgiven for forgetting that true art is priceless. Or, at least that its currency is derivative of public appreciation not private consumption.

Which must be why street art has moved from the pride of skateparks to the top of buyer's hit lists. You only need to look at Banksy on sale in Sotheby's to see how far from starving are today's best street artists. And so it is with precision timing that London's counterculture has a place to come in from the cold this week, at the just opened exhibition of urban art, In Selected Stores Only,where art from five of the best talents in the graffiti form are on display. All artists are exhibiting brand-new works in this must-see show which includes French "guerrilla artist," Space Invader, who has created nearly 100 strange, mosaic tile works (pictured here) on the streets of London. (Read a personal interview with Space Invader here).

While street artists' interventions are illegal, at least the motive in many cases is addition--to add a question or a surprise to a city street. Which is my only reservation about removing street art from the street: the act of removal. Surely guerrilla art is not suited to life in a gallery, the zoos of the art world?

In Selected Stores Only
Elms Lester Painting Rooms
1-5 Flitcroft Street, WC2
020 7836 6747
Until 24 Feb (Mon-Sat: 12-6PM, Thurs to 9PM)