East End Gallery Walk: Dr Lakra, Brian Griffiths, David Batchelor

In October 2003, London's East End galleries buzzed with pre-Frieze energy. At Kate MacGarry, Mexican artist and tattooist Dr Lakra (Sept 26–Nov 2) transformed vintage erotic magazine covers from the 1920s–1950s by tattooing the anonymous pin-ups with anarchic graphics, turning them into lascivious mistresses. One image, from an issue titled "Mujeres Politica Toros y Deportes," shows a provocative woman dead from a bullet, covered in tattoos including a spider web and the word "Tito." Two streets away, Vilma Gold presented Brian Griffiths' "When the world was young" (Sept 10–Oct 19), featuring an antique theater troupe occupying the main space. A giant mobile caravan, too large to move between columns, was adorned with delicate decorative elements, while plaster masks of deceased Hollywood actors hung on walls, creating an absurd, anachronistic environment. The circuit concluded at Wilkinson Gallery with David Batchelor's "The spectrum of Hackney road" (Sept 12–Oct 12). Batchelor, author of "Chromophobia" (2000), used varied plastic bottles pierced vertically by neon tubes, alongside photographs of urban details each featuring a white rectangle found randomly (e.g., an empty signboard). The installation challenged color and material integrity within the gallery's confined space. Rumors suggest London's art scene has never been better, with hope for sustained post-Frieze stimulation.