Rubell Museum Refreshes Miami Art Week 2024

Contemporary art collectors Don and Mera Rubell made Miami history when they opened their namesake museum in 1993, several years after moving to the city from New York. While living in Chelsea, they began visiting the studios of local artists such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, purchasing many of the final pieces on modest payment plans. The early work that made him a superstar.

Today, the Rubell family’s collection is one of the most impressive of its kind, with more than 7,700 works by some of the most coveted artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. In 2022, the pair opened a second museum in Washington, D.C., to showcase “the unique role of the artist as teacher.”

Traditionally, the Rubell Museum in Miami updates its lineup of artworks on display each December, just before Art Basel in Miami Beach. This year’s re-exhibition is particularly significant, with half of the 36 galleries completely revamped. Several weirdos have moved in, such as Zhu Jinshi’s Boat (2012), an immersive sculpture composed of 12,000 hanging sheets of rice paper.

Mera Rubell told Artsy that as their collection continues to evolve, the couple sometimes takes the needs of their audience into consideration. “I have to admit, we do,” Meira said. “We’re not trying to cater to the audience, but we like to surprise the audience – we like to let them see the magic that we see.”

This year’s new exhibition focuses on artists active in the East Village in the 1980s. Basquiat and Haring also appear, as well as relatively unknown artists such as Louis Frangueira, Stephen Lake and Rick Prower. The Rubell family was an important part of this heyday: not only were they early patrons of these artists, but they were friends (Haring introduced them to Basquiat).

At the same time, this year’s update prioritizes the present. The couple has always had a reputation for collecting cutting-edge art, and this year seven young artists will make their debut at the Rubell Museum: artist Emmanuel Louisnord Desir, figurative painter and sculptor Omari Douglin, installation artist Patrick Goddard, interior painter Michelle Uckotter, portrait Home artist February James, sculptor Murjoni Merriweather and illustrator Slawn. For many of these names, this month also marks their first institutional showing.

Painting was Mera Rubel’s favorite medium and still dominates the museum. “I love the way it’s applied, the magic of the brushstroke, the way the artist depicts light and emotion,” she said. “It’s like an endless mystery.” Iconic examples abound from legends like Cecily Brown, Henry Taylor and Yoshitomo Nara.

Still, the family found the sculpture enticing and knew it would delight their guests. Cady Nolan’s Budweiser Stock This piece doesn’t have a title yet (1989) has been rising since the Rubell family purchased it in 1996. Cajsa von Zeipel’s legendary tech Amazon also reappears after an absence.

“She’s very creative,” Mera said of von Zeppel. “She brings humor. She really takes you through the culture of our time, the social culture, the sexual culture – the online alienation that we’re all part of, the loss of human contact.” Most of all, they love capturing the ever-changing Artist of the human condition.

The Changing Impact of the Rubell Collection

The Rubells continued to purchase large quantities of art. Although the values ​​of their purchases have soared over the years, they are known to never sell. As a result, new and long-term collections blend seamlessly with the museum’s solo and group exhibitions and loose themes.

In the first gallery, one of Richard Prince’s monumental joke paintings is back on display for the first time in 15 years, at not afraid of love (2000), created by Maurizio Cattelan, whom Mera calls “the biggest clown”. She and Don lent the elephant sculpture, hidden under a sheet, to Cattelan for the controversial 2011 Guggenheim retrospective, which hung entirely from ropes.

The Rubells also occasionally collect collectively. Not only did they send a large body of work to the Guggenheim’s upcoming Rasheed Johnson retrospective, but they also transformed the museum’s second gallery from a group show to a focus on the artist. A mysterious piece made of black soap, wax and paint on red oak retains its longstanding status, alongside dozens of Johnson’s other looming wall-mounted assemblages, many of which feature record and book collections . “I was amazed that we were able to put together such a lovely gallery,” recalls Meira.

After a room dedicated to the female nude and another to tapestries, a particularly colorful and captivating gallery merges debut artist February James’s loose, electric portraits with Murjoni Merriweather’s woven busts. As one body. Later, another gallery, which previously paired paintings by Haring and Sterling Ruby, was now divided into two spaces. The first space now focuses on Haring’s works on paper. “It was precious to see the rawness of his lines on paper,” Mehra said. The gallery below now features four of Ruby’s massive and mesmerizing sunsets. “It’s like a Rothko chapel,” she commented.

Ruby created these moody works during the Rubells’ first artist residency in 2011. This week, the Rubells are opening a new exhibition of paintings by their 2024 resident artist, Vanessa Raw.

2024 marks the 60th anniversary of Don and Mera getting married and starting collecting together. Meira said that during that time, the way they found artists remained the same: everything was organic. For example, they approached Raw after Tracey Emin selected her to participate in Frieze London 2023’s Artists to Artists section.

However, during those 60 years, Meira was surprised to see how many people came into contemporary art “from all angles,” she said, “opening galleries, collecting, making art.”

“The good thing is that more artists can make a living from their art,” Meira continued. “The bad thing is that it’s become very commercial and opportunistic.” She wants everyone to remember that “art makes a profound contribution in teaching us about who we are and what the world is.”