Huge energy, variety at Chelsea opening Crowd and art compete in striking visual stimulation High quality of many works emerges quietly Margot Grant's latest International Art Festival competition celebrated the selection of 100 from 4000 entries in its global competition by presenting them at the Highline Loft Gallery last night - Thursday, reception 6-9pm with the exhibition continuing till Saturday 12-2pm - to a high energy crowd which was often as visually striking and as individual as the artworks. Though drawn from around the world - as far as Venezuela and even Japan, whence one lady came over especially for the opening - the crowd and the exhibits were often from Russia and Eastern Europe, once again reminding one of the social phenomenon visible in art and film and literature, that political repression results in the diversion of energy into art. A full appreciation of the value of the individual accomplishments had to wait till next day given the excitement of the crowd and the extreme variety of the works, mainly canvases but with one or two sculptures, which had the effect of making the higher quality work with its quieter and more slowly appreciated values apt to be hidden beside the noisier and more blatant appeal of the less extraordinary offerings, but still there were sales. A second visit amid calmer circumstances the next day would reveal a number of excellent pictures which were lost among the variety and clamor of the reception, and a surprisingly high level of work overall, even though it may lack the polish and refinement of the high end and high priced galleries which now are more typical of Chelsea's weekly Thursday parade. The raw spirit of the genuine artistic impulse was like a refreshing swig of vodka to those tired of the more commercial fashions of the art stratosphere.