LONDON, ENGLAND.- This autumn the Royal Academy of Arts, in collaboration with twenty of the leading London commercial art galleries, will offer visitors a concise view of contemporary art in 2002. This innovative exhibition will offer a dynamic insight into the creative activities of commercial galleries, showing the important role they play in positioning London in the international contemporary art world, and exploring how they encourage and support artists. The Galleries Show 2002 will provide a unique opportunity for visitors to experience, under one roof, what is happening now in the contemporary art world.

These London galleries range from small artist-run spaces to internationally renowned galleries, and will offer visitors the chance to see recent work by established artists including Peter Doig, Elizabeth Peyton and Wolfgang Tillmans, as well as the opportunity to discover emerging artists. The majority of artists will be showing new work and some will be creating site specific installations especially for The Galleries Show 2002.

Each gallery will have a room in which to present individually curated exhibitions. Some galleries will showcase individual artists, whilst others will present group or themed shows. The work included will encompass the many possibilities of contemporary art – from painting, sculpture and photography, to video, installation and performance art.

Galleries represented: Anthony Reynolds, Anthony Wilkinson, asprey jacques, Corvi-Mora, Emily Tsingou Gallery, Essor Gallery, Frith Street Gallery, Gagosian Gallery, greengrassi, Maureen Paley Interim Art, Laurent Delaye Gallery, Lisson Gallery, Michael Hue Williams, Modern Art, Sadie Coles HQ, Stephen Friedman, The Approach, Victoria Miro, Vilma Gold.

The exhibition will be curated by Norman Rosenthal, Exhibitions Secretary and Max Wigram, independent curator, who previously collaborated on Apocalypse: Beauty and Horror in Contemporary Art, held at the RA in 2000. The RA aims to present a broad range of contemporary visual art to the widest possible audience, to encourage debate, and provide a focus for the interests of artists and art lovers.