Mark Coetzee Bücher

Not Afraid is the first comprehensive exploration of a monumental private collection of contemporary art owned by the Rubell family in Miami, Florida. Since 1967, the family has amassed around 6,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, photography, videos, and installations by significant artists from the last three decades. The collection features renowned names such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, and Cindy Sherman, among others. The book showcases approximately 300 reproductions of key works, designed to simulate the experience of visiting the collection, which opened to the public in 1996. It is neither a catalogue nor a traditional art history manual but an impressive visual journey through contemporary art. The publication includes an introduction by museum director Mark Coetzee and an insightful interview with Don and Mera Rubell about their collecting journey. Originally based in New York, the Rubells relocated to Miami in 1993, restoring Art Deco hotels before establishing their collection in a former Drug Enforcement Agency building. With 40,000 square feet of exhibition space that changes biannually, the collection attracts around 22,000 visitors each year, making it a must-see for contemporary art enthusiasts in Miami.

In December 2000, a group of five young German artists, all recent graduates of the prestigious Leipzig Art Academy, organized a small exhibition of their works in Leipzig. Unsurprisingly, the exhibition attracted no notice from the international contemporary art community. From that humble beginning, the "New Leipzig School" has expanded to a dozen artists and grown to be an international phenomenon. On March 19, 2005, MASS MoCA presented the country’s foremost collection of paintings from the New Leipzig School--a collection built by the Rubell Family in Miami--for the first time, and what followed was an international avalanche of attention and demand. That exhibition, Life After Death , and this corresponding publication, include 62 key works by the most sought-after painters of the moment, including Tilo Baumgartel, Tim Eitel, Martin Kobe, Neo Rauch, Christoph Rückhaberle, David Schnell and Matthias Weischer.Santa Site Santa Fe, 4/21/06-6/19/06Washington Katzen Arts Center Museum, 9/5/06-10/29/06 Frye Art Museum, 2/16/07-6/3/07Salt Lake Salt Lake Art Center, 6/23/07-9/30/07Kansas Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 11/6/07-2/3/08