Miami & No Man’s Land

The Rubell Family Collection

First of all, it’s a perfect adaptation.  The Rubell building.  It’s impressive.

The Rubell Family Collection is housed in a re-purposed Drug Enforcement Agency for confiscated goods facility.  It’s located in a humble area of Miami, just on the fringes of the vibrant Wynwood Art District.

Opened in 1997, the museum houses the worlds largest privately owned contemporary art collection.

We were there to see No Man’s Land:  Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection.   It occupied all 28 galleries and 45,000 square feet of the museum.

Some of the work was commissioned for the exhibit. Work was rotated through during the exhibit.  That’s just how much they have acquired from women artists.

This exhibition focused on and celebrated work by more that a hundred female artists of different generations, cultures and disciplines.

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Here’s the exterior of the Rubell building, softened by rampant greenery.

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And here you enter.  Bookstore and gift shop are at the back.  And so nice that you don’t have to exit through the gift shop.

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Solange Pessoa   ‘Untitled’   2015

Her materials for this installation were jenipapo (fruit) , annatto (condiment and food colouring from the seeds of the ahiote tree), and flax on canvas.

She had several other large installation pieces made with organic materials; fabric, earth, sponges, clay, hair, leather and fabric. Impressive in scale and palpable labor.  It’s heavy, dense, primeval work.

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Mira Dancy  ‘Street Ofelia‘ 2014     60 x 48″

A not so heavy Miami neonesque.

miami-rubell-1Anicka Yi    ‘Life Serves Up the Occasional Pink Unicorn’   2013

This fascinating wall piece serves up tempura fried flowers, resin, Plexiglas, stainless steel and chrome.  An odd juxtaposition of materials, and aptly titled.   The tempura ‘flowers’ are suspended in the Plexiglas in front of the chrome ‘dumbbell’.

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Christina Iglesias   ‘Untitled (M.M/9)’  1988

zinc, copper and concrete

I love the solemnity of this piece.  And the materials.  It’s like a memorial or a crypt.  Feels timeless.

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The 2nd floor toward Lisa Yuskavage  ‘Northview’  2000

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Marlene Dumas  ‘Miss January’  1997

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Yayoi Kusama  ‘Infinity Nets (Osat)’  2014   63 3/4 x 51 1/4

I had my 2013 visit to The Seattle Art Museums women artists Elles exhibit in 2013 as a balance to this show.  Elles  was a standout.  (See my post from 01/19/2013)

Visiting No Mans Land was exhilarating.  The  exhibit speaks to the vision and passionate dedication of this family, and their commitment to contemporary women artist.

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