Mark Coetzee

Not Afraid is the first and only book on one of the largest and most monumental private collections of contemporary art in the world today, by the Rubell family of Miami, Florida. Collectors since 1967, the family owns some 6,000 works of art - from paintings to sculptures, photography, videos and installations - all by the most significant artists working during the last three decades.

The collection reads like a Who's Who of contemporary art, including works by, among others, 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 and Zhang Huan.

The book showcases some 300 reproductions of the most important works in the collection. Intended to convey the experience of visiting the collection, the book design simulates a walk through the successive exhibition spaces, which were first opened to the public 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 the museum directo Mark Coetzee, and an enlightening interview with Don and Mera Rubell about the process of collecting.

Originally based in New York, the Rubell family moved to Miami in 1993 and entered the hotel industry, restoring and re-opening Art Deco hotels such as the Albion. Since 1996 it has been housed in a former Drug Enforcement Agency building on Miami's 29th Street. Comprising 40,000 square feet of exhibition space, the display changes every six months and is open all year round to the public. The collection attracts 22,000 visitors a year, making the old DEA warehouse a must-see for every contemporary art fan visiting Miami.… (altro)

This is a very well-done art book, made all the more impressive by the unusually small dimensions of the tome itself. Art exhibit catalogs invariably seem to acquire the heft of your average coffee table book, and lose a bit of readability in the process. The real triumph of this volume is that despite the smaller physical size, it loses little of the clarity of presentation needed to consider these complex paintings on the printed page.

Although I don't agree with the curators claim that "The entire project is engulfed by emotional restraint, to the point of repression" (I personally think these paintings are a lot more energetic and lively than that statement would suggest), I nonetheless applaud the publication of a catalog that is worthy of the works it seeks to echo and discuss.… (altro)