HOWZAT

YBA art, although catering for an international market, mainly drew upon British common culture. Consequently much of the art produced was resolutely urban and invariably London in theme and dissemination. But “the centre cannot hold”. This year’s pool of aspirant international artists reach beyond the metropolis as they use their art to point up questions that have no geographical boundaries. Vanessa Carlos, 22, of Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, explores themes in her paintings and film that stem from her Brazilian homeland and an international fetishisation of woman. Yee-Man Cheung, 23, from Chelsea, uses Chinese ritual to explore issues of belonging and our place within a cultural orthodoxy.

In the same breath that they address questions of national identity, these women’s art is imbued with problematic issues of gender. Feminism, it appears, is no longer a dirty word. Their work tackles head-on what it means to be a woman in contemporary society. Take Annika Bennett, 25, also from Chelsea, whose installation, My Girlfriend is a Stripper, interweaves video and performance. Confined and confronted by an erotic dancer, the viewer occupies a space between the sexual spectacle and its audience, which is projected on to the walls of the cubicle. Now a part of the performance, the viewer is crammed up against the writhing body of the dancer who glares at us condemningly.

Modern Britain’s obsession with the body perfect inspires an intriguing series of works by Louise Shelley, 23, from Glasgow School of Art. Gym culture is stripped to its essential components and then glamorised to iconic status. The golden mat that won’t break your fall is both poignant and funny: I appreciated its irony and felt my own disdain for gyms satisfyingly affirmed.

Back in London, Siôn Parkinson, 27, at St Martins, has drilled holes through nine floors of the art school building; through them passes a long red string which, unlike the conduits and cables buried in the carcass of the block, very visibly connects spaces and people. The flagpole and flag he has constructed on the school roof proclaims to the city: “When the wind blows this building is mine ”, while the occupants of the building remain oblivious to its message.

The quality of craftsmanship seen in the work of Shelley is echoed in the work of Jodie Carey. A Goldsmiths graduate, Carey has already been singled out by Saatchi as an up-and-coming talent by his purchase of her installation The Daily Mail, 2005. The work consists of five stunning flower arrangements, each standing approximately 6ft high by 3ft 6in wide (1.83m by 1.07m). The flowers are made from newspaper that has been stained with blood, tea and coffee. With its familiar iconography it draws us in and then makes us think. The multilayered meanings imply issues of gender, media, artifice, mortality and ritual. “The concept behind the work is still of great importance to me, however, I think it must remain equal to the power of the object itself,” Carey told me. The clear dedication to the productive process in her work can also be found in the paintings of Nick Nowicki, from St Martins, whose immaculately realised canvases combine images of popular culture with abstract designs drawing upon many painterly issues explored over the past 50 years.

Singling out individuals is a divisive game. When I undertook this tour, bearing in mind the YBA legacy, I was expecting to find launchpads for celebrity. But the art-school scene is not suffering under the shadow of YBA; it is diverse, vital, engaged and outward-looking. Young artists are emerging on to the contemporary art scene with a dedicated and rigorous approach to sustained working practice. Richard Wentworth, sculptor and master of drawing at the Ruskin, puts it eloquently: “The hyper-individuating of young people is culturally despicable, because culture is infectious and it is made by contagion.”

It was Brian Eno who said that art schools should be the seed-beds of popular culture and if the work produced by this new generation can be an indication of shifting concerns then we should take heart. It’s time to stop harking back to Tracey, Damien and the other cartoon characters who imprinted the irreverent 1990s and start looking to a generation for whom art is both stylistically and substantially motivated towards change.

The degree shows are now over, but you can see the best online at www.timesonline.co.uk/theknowledge/art