A couple three years ago the tastemaker Rubell Family Collection (RFC) in Miami presented their exhibition entitled 30 Americans. The works of 30 leading African-American contemporary artists were on display and was one of the highlights of Art Basel week in Miami. The exhibition traveled to several venues, including the Corcoran, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, the Frist Center in Nashville, the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk. It is the norm for an RFC exhibition to tour nationally. Now explain me this - how can a private stellar art museum operating in a former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) confiscation warehouse in Miami, with a collection exceeding 6,000 works, do this and the African American museum in California have none of its power or cultural authority? Showing at the RFC garners one a league of major collectors. During Art Basel Miami Beachs first years, collectors would peruse the RFCs exhibition and take that list of names over to Art Basel and strip every gallery of the art made by an artist on the RFC list. The RFC only shows art that they collect. So you are telling me that the State of California, where untold riches reside, cannot possibly match this program? Nor the similar one in London, the Saatchi Gallery, which has career changing thematic exhibitions of art from all quarters of the earth AND has Free Admission - in LONDON.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 06:00:08 +0000