Academy plans new US art showcase

The collaboration comes nearly 10 years after their controversial Sensation exhibition helped further the careers of Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst.

USA Today, which opens on 4 October, will feature 30 young contemporary artists who work in the US.

The exhibition focuses on America's place in the world, and willinclude painting, photography and sculpture.

Among the artists who will be submitting work are Kelley Walker, Rodney McMillian, Inka Essenhigh and Ryan McGinness.

Some of the pieces have already attracted attention because of their political messages, such as Jules de Balincourt's Disunited States, a redrawn map of the US.

'Political agendas'

Royal Academy president Sir Nicholas Grimshaw said: "This is a thought-provoking and exciting array of works from tomorrow's big art names."

Exhibitions secretary Norman Rosenthal added: "Many of these wonderful pieces are little known or have rarely been seen in Great Britain or Europe.

"They present a new vitality of art in the United States and demonstrate a varied array of political and aesthetic agendas of the greatest interest that represent the many vital aspects of life and culture today."

Sensation controversy

The Sensation exhibition, held in 1997, featured Marcus Harvey's controversial portrait of Moors murderer Myra Hindley, painted using children's handprints.

Other works included Hirst's Pickled Sheep and Emin's tent creation called Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-95, which has since been destroyed in a fire.

Some of the works are now housed at the Saatchi Gallery at County Hall, London.

Sensation, which was also shown in New York and Berlin, helped spark interest in the Young British Artists movement, many of whom have carved out successful and lucrative contemporary art careers.

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