Bulletin

On Monday Leicester City won the premier League title for the first time in their 132 year history. At the start of the season they were one of the favourites for relegation and were 5,000-1 outsiders to win. This means the following scenarios were considered more likely according to Paddy Power- Bono to become the next pope (1,000-1) Danny Welbeck as the next James Bond (500-1) Kim Kardashian to win Nobel peace prize (500-1) Kate and Wills next child to be named Boris (100-1) Katie Price to win the Nobel prize for literature (100-1) US president to confirm without doubt the existence of alternative intelligent life after 2020 (100-1)

All this depressing mutter of anti-semitism drove us out of the house in the wee small hours of Sunday morning for a couple of genuine bagels. Down to Brick Lane, just 2 mins from both our Huntingdon and Fleet Street Hill sites.

To keep up the peace and harmony theme we had one each from Beigel Bake and Beigel Shop. There's much debate over which of the Brick Lane bagel shops is better: The Yellow One or The White One. And you'll find patrons fiercely defending their choices with arguments including: The Yellow One has been here longer (over a century longer, in fact), but it sells bacon, which White One fans will dub un-Jewish and blasphemous on a bagel. The truth is, they're both as good as each other, especially when those hunger pangs surface after a rave in Hackney and can only be satiated by a salt beef bagel. We suggest simply joining the shorter queue.

Arriving at the gallery the space seemed to have a hubub of excitement in the air as not only the nominees listed on the foyer wall vouched for the award, the event marks XL Catlin Art Prize 2016 10th birthday.

Walking through to the first gallery I was met with a fantastical sight of Jamie Fitzpatrick's pieces. A suspended revolving birdcage adorned with plastic pigeon figurines beside a wax totem of regal busts with pinocchio esque noses left me bamboozled at the creative talent that must be emerging from the city's art schools.

Next was Jude Crilly's neon focused piece, with a green neon light glowing from inside a sleek bmw with the surrounding space in darkness.

Leading on from this was Jayne Hayes Greenwood's Self Assembly, an oil on canvas abstract akin to the surrealism of Dali. Opposite was In Pieces paper mache creation of a fragmented body seen through a picture frame window.

Nestled in the darkened gallery Christoper Gray's gothic film Death by Chair played on loop. Although somewhat grotesque the piece sees Gray battle with a rubber hand puppet likeness of himself before taking a grisly turn where a goblin creature meets a gory end.

Finally Gallery 3 saw Neal Rock's enormous glossed silicone Prospons, resembling swathes of printed chiffon and bandages, Rory Biddulph's merging of the oriental with graffiti styled acrylic paintings and Hamish Pearch's portrait of a fuller figured lady in a sunset hue.

Overall the event was a fantastic launch pad for the nominees, all recent graduates of London's top ranking art schools. You could almost taste the creativity. To crown the winner visitors were asked to vote and place their ballot papers into ornate golden post boxes in the gallery foyer, rather topical. Happy Birthday XL Catlin Art Prize. x