Camcorder boys do art

They were expelled from art school and dismiss the current British scene as "totally insignificant" - but two young Londoners have been selected as new stars by the Tate.

Oliver Payne and Nick Relph are to star in Tate Britain's new exhibition of the best in contemporary British work - although they hardly resemble the traditional image of an artist.

Friends since they were teenagers, the two create "guerrilla" films, shot on a camcorder and inspired by an eclectic range of subjects, including the controversial unsolved death of Kingston man Ricky Reel, the declining standards of British architecture and skateboarding.

Payne, 23, and Relph, 25, are among 23 artists whose work will appear in Days Like These, the Tate's spring exhibition dedicated to the best contemporary artists at work in Britain.

A Tate spokesman said today: "The curators set out to reflect the vitality of contemporary British art both in the work of established artists such as Rachel Whiteread and younger artists such as Relph and Payne whose work continues to gain interest in the UK and internationally."

Tate's decision to feature Relph and Payne comes after they were nominated for this year's prestigious Beck's Futures art prize at the ICA - the youngest nominees ever.

However the pair are pointedly rude about the artistic establishment. They said: "The only shocking thing about British art is its total insignificance to anything going on in Modern Britain. Young British Art is a dead language."

And although their new work - about which no details are yet known - is to feature in one of the capital's most important galleries they are just as snide about London, saying: "The problem of London is fascinating to us. It is a city that refuses to grow up, a city so assured of its brilliance that it constantly forgets to do anything noteworthy. Madonna has moved here because it is so f****g boring."

The pair - who have not revealed why they were expelled from Kingston art school - are equally dismissive of their artistic elders, branding the art press a "congratulations card to smug Londoners, fooling the capital into believing that Emin and Hirst are suss and savvy".

Neither Tracey Emin nor Damien Hirst has been invited to present work in the exhibition.

Curator Judith Nesbitt said Days Like These "is a kaleidoscope of the here and now. There are points of connection even if the works look very different. We have got well beyond the YBA thing. We are in a moment when artists are allowed to say what they want to say without feeling constrained."

Rachel Whiteread is to present new work in the exhibition and there will be video, photography and installations by lesser known artists including Shizuka Yokomizo, Tim Head and Mike Marshall.

The most shocking thing about Days Like These, however, is perhaps just how many paintings will be on display. Over a third of the 23 artists are painters. Ms Nesbitt said: "Painting is just really strong at the moment. People get worked up and a bit neurotic about painting - it is always in perpetual crisis if you believe everything you read. In fact it is a fantastic time for painting."

Days Like These opens on 27 February and ends on 26 May.