Not Afraid

This book is the first publication on one of the largest and most important private contemporary art collections in the world today, the Rubell Family Collection. Collectors since 1967, the Rubell family (now based in Miami, Florida) today owns some 6,000 works of art, from paintings to sculptures, photography, videos, and installations, by the most significant artists working from the 1970s to the present. The collection reads like a "Who's Who" of contemporary art, and includes works by Andy Warhol, Carl Andre, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Struth, Mike Kelley, and Louise Bourgeois, among many, many others. This book is picture-driven, and showcases some 300 reproductions of the most important works in the collection. It is organized neither chronologically nor alphabetically, but is rather intended to convey the experience of visiting the collection, through the successive installations of the collection since it was opened to the public in Miami in 1996. Neither a catalogue nor an art history manual, this book is an astonishing collection of images of contemporary art at its best. It also includes an introduction by collection curator Mark Coetzee, an enlightening interview with the Rubells on the collection and the process of collecting, and a full list of plates. Donald and Mera Rubell are Americans who began collecting art in 1967, a few years after they met. They became serious collectors in 1979 when, together with their children Jason and Jennifer, they acquired a 16-foot drawing by Francesco Clemente, The Creation. Since then, the collection has been a family affair, and every piece is acquired by consensus among the four-member family. The family wealth derives largely from the inheritance of Don's brother, Steve Rubell, co-creator of the legendary Studio 54 club in New York. Today the collection includes a total of over 6,000 works, and keeps on growing. Originally based in New York City, the family moved to Miami in 1993 and entered the hotel industry, restoring and re-opening Art Deco hotels such as the Albion. Their collection was first installed in a New York City warehouse; since 1996 it is housed in a former Drug Enforcement Agency building on 29th Street in Miami. Comprising 40,000 square feet of exhibition space, the exhibition changes every six months, and is open year round to the public. The collection welcomes 22,000 visitors a year, making the old DEA warehouse a must-see for every contemporary art fan visiting Miami. Bill Begert, one of the former curators of the collection, declared that the collection "serves the important movements in contemporary art in the last 30 years, and it's probably one of the most complete surveys in the U.S." The book includes reproductions of works by Carl Andre, Janine Antoni, Matthew Barney, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Christian Boltanski, Maurizio Cattelan, Francesco Clemente, Gregory Crewdson, Rineke Dijkstra, Marlene Dumas, Dan Flavin, Gilbert & George, Robert Gober, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Peter Halley, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Donald Judd, Mike Kelley, William Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Takashi Murakami, Chris Ofili, Raymond Pettibon, Richard Prince, Charles Ray, Thomas Ruff, Anri Sala, David Salle, Wilhelm Sasnal, Cindy Sherman, Gregor Schneider, Haim Steinbach, Thomas Struth, Sarah Sze, Rosemarie Trockel, Luc Tuymans, Andy Warhol, Christopher Wool, Lisa Yuskavage, Zhang Huan, etc.