Simon Periton
Simon Periton would be your dream partner in a paper-angel making competition. "Simon likes to cut shapes out of paper" is a little akin to saying that Rodin liked to play with stone. Self-extrapolating from his earlier explorations of form, his fourth exhibition at Sadie Coles bids adieu to the realm of the inconsequential. Instead, this latest exhibition of complex, multi-layered forms unveils a world inhabited by riot police and Israeli soldiers, flamenco dancers, skips and unrelenting plant-men alike. The defining paper silhouettes have been superceded by stencils spray-painted onto glass, the results vivid, ghostly, hypnotic. And yet, through an arcane magic it is almost as though Periton's world is becoming real; as though, with every layer, it is attaining substance, like a fairytale book come to life.

Chavi
Both etymologically and culturally, the much maligned British 'chav' finds his roots, albeit often unknowingly, in the Romany word for 'child' or 'kid'. But rather than laying into our Burberry-clad, hoodie-loving, mp3 phone-toting, thieving little cousins, this exhibition at the Novas draws on the work of three UK artists - Daniel Baker, Damian and Delaine le Bas, themselves from Gypsy communities - to challenge and explore such stereotyping. By revealing and reflecting upon their own experiences within both Romany and Gypsy society and the wider world, our common ignorance of what is one of the few completely European traditions becomes obvious. More than misunderstanding, we are perhaps more guilty of forgetting them, of marginalizing them so efficiently that they have simply disappeared, save through a fleeting, confused influence on our ASBO'd yoof.