VERO BEACH, FLA.- The Vero Beach Museum of Art presents an exciting selection of approximately sixty works selected from over 500 objects of contemporary German art drawn from the deep holdings of the renowned Rubell Family Collection in Miami, Florida. Don and Mera Rubell have established one of the first major private museums of contemporary art that has become an international model.
The exhibition chronicles this landmark period through cutting-edge painting, sculpture and photography from some of the most important practitioners of contemporary art. During the post-World War II era, Düsseldorf and Cologne became leading centers for contemporary art. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, both Berlin and Leipzig also emerged as important contemporary art centers. Few countries have had four major centers of contemporary art at one time. This exhibition features exceptional examples from these cities pioneering artists from the late-twentieth centuries, including Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter; sculptors Isa Genzhen and Thomas Schütte; influential photographers Bernd & Hilla Becher, Thomas Demand, and Thomas Ruff; and painters Martin Kobe and Neo Rauch, among others.
In addition, the Museum will be offering a series of interpretative exhibition inspired activities including a series of German inspired films starting October 18th @ 4:30 pm; a lecture by Brady Roberts Made in Germany: An Insider View on October 24th @ 5:30 pm; an Adult Workshop with Sara Klein and Danielle Johnson How to Look At Contemporary Art on November 16th or 17th from 1 – 4 pm; and a number of Art Talks with a VBMA docent who will offer an in-depth tour focusing on select artworks from the exhibition on October 17, November 14 and December 12 @ 12 noon.
Mera and Don Rubell are pioneers who discover and champion young artists, undiscovered neighborhoods and new ideas.
Mera and Don first began engaging with artists, galleries, and museums in 1964 while living in New York. They moved to Miami in 1992 and, with their son Jason and daughter Jennifer, began developing hotels and an art foundation and museum to house and publicly exhibit their expanding art collection. Combining their instinct for emerging neighborhoods with aesthetic acuity and hands-on business know-how, they formed Rubell Hotels and have subsequently transformed and enlivened neighborhoods on the East Coast. They helped spearhead the transformation of South Beach in the 1990’s and their art museum, located in a former DEA warehouse, did the same for Miami’s new cultural epicenter, the Wynwood neighborhood. The Rubells were also instrumental in bringing the Art Basel art fair to Miami Beach.
