Steve Rubell with Halston (center) and Liza Minnelli at Studio 54, New Years Eve, 1977. And we have zero social aspirations.. In 1981, on theirregular rounds of New Yorks East Village galleries and alternative spaces, the collectors Mera and Don Rubell struck up a friendship with a curator theyd met at the Mudd Club, a nexus of downtown cool. Still, given that women are so often underrepresented in Museum and gallery exhibitions, and given that the Rubells are the patrons to so many young artists and women artists, it is worth seeing the show. Chi Lam/The Rubell Museum DC When art collectors Mera and Don Rubell open their long-anticipated contemporary art museum in Southwest D.C. this. For example, after Oscar Murillos 2012 residency and solo exhibition, his work reached $4.9 million in auction sales the very next year (with the artist suffering the negative effects of art flipping). Since collecting is a family affair for the Rubells, their legacy will continue in the hands of their son, Jason. As the years went on, they continued to collect those artists that interested them, at one point purchasing one artwork a week for several decades. Now fully ensconced, the Rubells are savoring the experience of living in a gallery. In 1985, he opened the club the Palladium, which displayed art by Haring, Kenny Scharf, and . The most beautiful thing is our grandson Samuel is now obsessed, Mera told me in Aspen, where the Rubells holiday in July with their five grandchildren: Sam, 13; Ella, 12; Olivia, 9; Stevie, 9; and Max, 2. Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection. He also got into the fitness business via a workout studio, Bar Method. If they are captured by the work, they tend to acquire more works as they follow the artist's career. The Rubell Family Collection has been open to the public for 20 years,and plans for an anniversary exhibition opening at Miami Basel and dovetailing with the couples golden wedding anniversary were still being hatched. Experience. [12] He is buried at Beth Moses Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York. Michelle refers to Kim as family and Todd as her rock-star builder. Their interior designer, Austin Harrelson, whose wife and three children hang out every day with the Rubells and their three kids, lives on the same street a few doors away. The Rubell Museum, formerly the Rubell Family Collection, is a private contemporary art museum with locations in the Allapattah neighborhood of Miami, Florida, and the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was his first purchase! When I met up with them again in Miami in August, it was Don and Meras 50th wedding anniversary. Daughter of art collectors Mera and Don Rubell and niece of Studio 54 impresario Steve Rubell, Jennifer Rubell is the closest you can get to . RGT Wealth Advisors Location 5950 Sherry Ln Ste 600, Dallas, Texas, 75225, United States Description Industry Head 2 Head Stats. The marketing of young talent moved into high gear, and increasing competition led the Rubells to Europe, where they discovered the work of Neo Rauch, Rosemarie Trockel, and others. Don't blame the big banks. Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection. Jason, in particular, likes to wake up and rethink the possible hangs, as he puts it. The 40,000 square-foot building that until 2019 housed the Rubell Family Collection, was located in Wynwood, a formerly high-crime neighborhood that has now, in great part due to the establishment of the Rubell Family Collection, has evolved into one of the leading art and design districts in the U.S. To further emphasize their devotion to collection, the Rubells private home can also be accessed through a library door located in their former venue. We feel we have graduated to a museum, Mera Rubell told, . Required fields are marked *. His rise to the status of one of the worlds wealthiest people is a direct result of this success. Don and Mera Rubell are two of the most recognized and respected collectors of contemporary art in the world. The young couple married two years later and began collecting art on a monthly budget. [4][12], The Rubell houses over 7,400 works by more than 1,000 artists. [2] Rubell attended Wingate High School and was also an avid tennis player, but decided against playing professionally. Jennifer Rubell is serving 2,000 lbs of ribs tonight. [6], In 1993, the Rubells opened their private collection to the public as the Rubell Family Collection in a building formerly used by the Drug Enforcement Agency in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. On December 4, 2019 the Rubells unveiled their new art museum, one of about a half-dozen private museums in South Florida. The defining characteristic of their collecting is how much they look and how much theyve seen, says Jennifer, recalling that she hated being dragged to galleries as a kid. [4][18], The opening exhibition in the Rubell's D.C. museum, What's Going On (2022), paid homage to Marvin Gaye, who had attended the former school that the museum is located in. Don and Mera Rubell have been collecting art for more than 50 years. In the 50 years since the Rubells started acquiring the very latest art, much has changed. In June 1979, Rubell and Schrager were charged with tax evasion, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy for reportedly skimming nearly $2.5 million in unreported income from the club's receipts, in a system Rubell called "cash-in, cash-out and skim." 63. On February 4, 1980, Rubell and Schrager went to prison and Studio 54 was sold in November of that year for $4.75 million. SGL 128 DBL 0. This brought the Rubells into the orbit of many of the young artists who were part of the Studio 54. At the time, Don, an obstetrician, and Mera, a teacher, lived on the Upper East Side with their two kids, Jason andJennifer. Recalling first glimpses of works by the artists they collect, theyll unpack exhibition highlights the way baseball fans recount historic plays. Hans far arbetade i United States Postal Service och blev senare professionell tennisspelare. After serving a prison sentence for tax evasion, Mr. Rubell switched to the hotel business in New York City with his former Studio 54 partner Ian Schrager and two associates. Youd see artists who had the kinds of career you hoped to have, Cindy Sherman says. The Rubells, through a spokesperson, said they plan to use the new warehouse to expand cultural resources in the community.. At any given time, up to 200 works are on loan to museums around the world, and the rest are kept in storage. The bond between Art Basel Miami and the Rubells has been a long-lasting one. Of course, it hasn't always been that way. 4:00AM. "We've been together for half a century, which is a miracle," collector Mera Rubell said this morning in So Paulo, sitting with her . An article from Christie's explained that ever since their early collecting days, the Rubells collecting practice has followed a distinct intuitive method, and their funds have come from the family business (Don is a retired gynecologist who ventured into the boutique hotel and real estate business (Rubell Hotels)). Rubell then decided to start his own business and opened two Steak Lofts restaurants,[4] one in New York City, and the other in Mystic, Connecticut. Police reports state that cash and receipts were in the building and were hidden in the ceiling sections of Rubell's office, where both he and Schrager worked. Photography by Chris Cunningham In December, during Art Basel Miami Beach, the brand-new Rubell Museum a gargantuan temple of contemporary art founded by longtime collectors Mera and Don Rubellhad recently named the Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo as its inaugural artist-in-residence. In New York City, Donald and his brother Steve experienced childhood in a Jewish family. Rubell has also been the topic of an episode of Biography titled "Steve Rubell: Lord of the Disco". [7] He died there on July 25, 1989. With the help and knowledgeable influence of disco promoter Billy Amato (Smith), executive vice president 20th Century-Fox Records, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager were introduced to the dance and disco market in early 1975 by John Addison of La Jardin. Their limited funds led them to focus on talent that hadnt yet been discovered, recalls George Condo, whose work they acquired early on. For the interior, the Rubells, with Harrelsons help, opted to repeat a few basic materials: basalt volcanic stone tiles for the ground floor; white oak for the second floor; Calacatta and Carrara marble in the kitchen and bathrooms; and hard-wearing, unpatterned wool rugs. They loved talking to artists, often spending hours in their studios. They have known one another for quite a while and have been together for more than 10 years. I will confess that I wish that what was on exhibit when I visited in late December was better curated and I found more of the work engaging but that may just be me or may speak to issue of women artists in a hierarchical male society and in the art-auction-museum-gallery complex. The family also owns the 100-key Albion Hotel at 1650 James Avenue in South Beach. [8], In 2019, the collection relocated from the Wynwood neighborhood to a new site in the Allapattah neighborhood and was renamed the Rubell Museum. They are particularly inspired by artists whose work revolves around social causes in China. Contemporary art is a glamorous commodity, the places to find it are proliferating around the globe, and the Rubells have become major players, with their own museum. The Rubells also have an impressive collection from local talents, including Hernan Bas, Jos Bedia, Pablo Cano, Cooper, Naomi Fisher, Mark Handforth, Bert Rodriguez, and Purvis Young. The exhibitions they organize are generally timed to coincide with the fairs opening week in December, and the Rubells usually organize a Basel breakfast -- a must among the VIP fairgoers. Donald Rubell. Donald Rubell is 82 years old and was born on 09/08/1940. They're ranked among the world's top 200 art collectors and are credited with having the. Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 30 January 2023, at 15:32. 65% of the galleries are dedicated to long-term installations and 35% to special exhibitions, all drawn from the collection. Due to economic hardships, the majority take loans from their local banks. It. Don and Mera play every day at dawn on the court behind their house; Don has won numerous amateur championships; Jason was the star of the Duke University tennis team; and Jasons son, Sam, was ranked the No. Its our most ambitious project, Mera said of the $150 million venture. Architectural Digest may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. In 1993, the Rubells opened the Rubell Family Collection in Miami to present their collection to the public. The couple supported Haring until his death from AIDS in 1990 and even hosted the artist and his parents for dinner one night. Cindy Shermans Untitled #304, 1994. We were driving him around South Beach, Jason told me, and I said, Why dont you do some cool beach thing here? He loved the idea. Mera not only organized the first trip to Basel for Miami city officials to convince them of the fairs value but, as Sam Keller recalls, also talked up Miami to the galleries with which they dealt. Their rotating exhibitions are timed to coincide with the fairs opening week in December, and their off-the-wall Basel breakfast, concocted by Jennifer, a hotelierandfoodimpresarioturned artist, is a must-attend event. There are always rackets in the trunk of their car in whatever city they happen to be. That context is important, how we present ourselves to the world. Art doesnt come to you, Mera says. Jason Rhoadess Untitled (Chandelier), 2004. What do you mean? Olivia had replied. Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection. The family passion for tennis almost rivals that for art. This is our thinking space, she said. It's not just the President and his family, but also the army of. The young painter was in the midst of sharpening his own personal style, combining disparate influences into something new. The couples massive collection of contemporary art includes works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Kara Walker, and Andy Warhol, and has been housed in a storied Rubell Family Collection exhibition space in Miami where they have often unveiled new shows during Art Basel Miami Beach. They collect with the idea that the artists already in the collection are going to be affected by the artists they acquirethat its a shared home. In fact, in the lead-up to 30 Americans, their 2008 intergenerational survey of works by African-American artists, which looked at diverse perspectives on race, identity, and artistic legacy, the Rubells, Johnson recalls, engaged in soul-searching sessions with several artists to ensure they were behind the projects premise. He began a racket-stringing business to pay off the rest. Rubell is the son of mega art collectors Don and Mera Rubell. The inaugural exhibition included 300 works by 100 artists from the couples extensive holdings of more than 7,200 works by 1,000 artists. [8], In 1985, Rubell, who was closeted for most of his life,[9] discovered he had contracted HIV, which later progressed to AIDS. Ive never seen a house ridden so hard.. During Art Basel that December, they gave him his first U.S. solo exhibition, and, in due course, he was snapped up by the mega-gallerist David Zwirner. The Rubell Family Collection is located in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, inside a two-story, 40,000-square-foot warehouse that once served as a Drug Enforcement Administration storage facility for cocaine and cash seized from drug dealers. Ian Schrager - Net Worth. Architectural Digest recalled, Mera contributed to bringing Art Basel Miami Beach and Design Miami to South Florida. In retrospect, they did the right thing by purchasing what was a huge, nondescript, dilapidated warehouse in the heart of Wynwood, a sketchy area north of downtown Miami. Close . Don once said: There is no such thing as a great young artist There are only artists with potential.. Unlike museums, she said, they have the agility to respond and take risks in a fast-moving art world. During an interview with Peter Schneider, Don nicely put this idea into perspective: "Some of this stuff has been bought for the price of a haircut or a pair of shoes." Paintings by Oscar Murillo (at left) and Secundino Hernndez (at right). They were all eating pizza when she suggested that, since it was no longer being used, they should consider taking the name Miami Art Museum for themselves. Mnage trois: Mera and Don, with Charles Rays Male Mannequin, 1990, photographed in the Rubell Family Collection on August 30, 2014, their 50th wedding anniversary. The new facility consists of six former industrial buildings redesigned by Selldorf Architects and features 40 galleries with 100,000 square feet of gallery space, a library, a restaurant, a performance space, and a bookstore. Barbara Pollack from the New York Times reported that they first traveled to China in 2001 following the invitation of artist Zhang Huan, and then returned on many occasions. The reputation of the Rubells is so impressive that a residency or solo exhibition with the Rubells is similar to the exposure that one would get when exhibiting in any other important museum. Tenant Rex Discount Wholesale Grocers relocated to a warehouse in Miami, Mera and Don Rubell in front of 1090 Northwest 23rd Street in Allapattah (SVN Commercial Realty, Rubell Museum, iStock). Two weeks later, they asked to purchase it and learned that Ray was eager for cash to buy a sailboat. The Studio vases are by Stig Lindberg and the drapery is made from a Pierre Frey fabric. His name was Keith Haring, and he organized exhibitions upstairs. Saatchi is a 71-year-old millionaire and art dealer with an estimated wealth of $192 . New Times spoke with Don and Mera Rubell about their collection. In Miami at that time, contemporary art was far from the center of the conversation. Husband-and-wife Don and Mera Rubell started buying art in 1964 and now make the collection publicly available along with their son, Jason Rubell, according to the Rubell Museums website. For the most part, the works, in all their variety do not shout that they are made by women such as Cady Nolands installation of a room of Budweiser beer cans. Harings Elvis Presley, 1981. Imagine an HBO comedy set in Lakeview, an upscale neighborhood of Miami Beach. The Rubell Family Collection (RFC) in Miami, housed in a former DEA warehouse, is remarkable in many respects. His rise to prominence has been fueled by the rise in hard effort. Steve Rubell (December 2, 1943 - July 25, 1989) was an American entrepreneur and co-owner of the New York City disco Studio 54 . Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection. A forthcoming museum in the US capital by the Miami art collectors Don and Mera Rubell will give viewers an opportunity to see art as it's being made on site. The Rubell Family Collection was established in 1964 in New York City by Mera and Don Rubell. Jason Rubell, Haring, and Don Rubell (from left) at Harings opening at the Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, 1985. Todd introduced the Rubells to Robert Moehring and Francisco Llado Neuffer, principals of Domo Architecture + Design. [4], Writing in the Miami New Times in 2005 about the original museum, Alfredo Triff said "There are other world-class art collections in this city, but none is housed or displayed with such consistency, attention to detail, and outreach programming as the Rubell Family Collection. They own works by Ai Weiwei, Zhang Huan, He Xiangyu--who paints with boiled-down Coca-Cola--and Chen Wei, who photographs surrealistic scenes in his studio. The space is distributed across one level, with no elevators or staircases, except for a single ramp. Courtesy of the Rubell Family Collection. Mr. Donald Rubell Net Worth Donald Rubell Net Worth 2023, Age, Height, Relationships, Married, Dating, Family, Wiki Biography. Young artists are eager for the Rubells imprimatur, which can put pressure on their gallerists to agree to the Rubells requests to buy in bulk or at steeply discounted rates. The Rubell Family Collection was not changing its name. The 63-year-old Brooklyn-born former gynecologist met his wife Mera in the library at Brooklyn College in 1962. In 2013 and 2014 their Chinese acquisitions, following 6 research trips and more than 100 studio visits, were displayed at their 28 Chinese exhibition, which also traveled to San Antonio and San Francisco. Steve Rubell was Don's brother, famous as a nightclub promoter and owner of the legendary Studio 54. 'Yes, two artworks and about 4,000 books.' Sure enough, the breakfast table is piled with books towers of them, crowded together and teetering on the table's edge. Steve Rubell (December 2, 1943 July 25, 1989) was an American entrepreneur and co-owner of the New York City disco Studio 54. Visiting. One day, in passing, he mentioned he was also an artist. High Anxiety: New Acquisitions . Steinberg bought the townhouse in 2002 for $5.3 million from art collector Donald Rubell. Rubell and his brother Donald grew up in a Jewish[1] family in New York City. What is the Rubells distinct collecting style? Haring wanted his family to understand that he had made it, and what better way, he thought, than to show them his work in a Manhattan townhouse owned by art collectors? In Baltimore, they recently renovated the once grand Lord Baltimore Hotel, where they hope to enlist the filmmaker and artist John Waters to program its speakeasy. With them, you cant just say, I like this.You have to make clear why. Twenty percent of the 400 apartments will be designated for emerging artists. 46 past sales; 17 past rentals; NY License Number. Since the Rubells rarely sell works, they are not the immediate beneficiaries of artists increasing values, but the family is sometimes criticized for the kind of bartering it does. Struck by the markings Haring had made over iconic images of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, the Rubells asked to buy everything, only to learn that a guy named Jeffrey Deitch, an art adviser at Citibank, had arrived just ahead of them and snapped up a piece. All rights reserved. In the early days of Studio 54, she and Jason would watch rehearsals for the extravaganzas planned for that night in the club before heading home to do their schoolwork. The visibility they give artists strengthens the Rubells bargaining power, because their exhibitions can raise profiles and prices. They expect to break ground in 2015. In 2011 the Rubell's exhibition 30 Americans began touring, stopping first at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. Way to get here was not at all a simple task. The Rubells collecting style has remained consistent throughout the decades and has set them apart from other high-profile collectors. Jason and Michelles choices were the oppositethe least pretentious. Polaroid for portraits of Mera and Don Rubell by Thomas Ruff, 1988. Their model was a game changer, says Tom Eccles, the executive director of Bard Colleges Center for Curatorial Studies, noting that many major contemporary collectors followed suit. His approach worked and the club made $7 million during its first year. The Rubell net worth is undisclosed. Last year, the couple unveiled an impressive new museum in Allapattah, Florida where they currently house their eclectic collection of more than 7,200 works by 1,000 artists. [1][7] The original building was renovated in 2004 by Miami architect Allan Shulman. It was a superfast, amazing adventure in which we collaborated with a team of dear friends.
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