Not Afraid: Rubell Family Collection

by 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.

Genres: Art

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 2, 2004

About the author

Mark Coetzee was a South African curator, author, and artist whose career spanned continents and institutions. After studying Fine Art at Stellenbosch University, he began his career as a painter and later founded the Mark Coetzee Fine Art Cabinet in Cape Town in the late 1990s. In 2001, he was appointed director of the Rubell Family Collection (now the Rubell Museum) in Miami, where he helped shape one of the most influential private collections of contemporary art.
In 2009, Coetzee joined Puma as program director of PumaVision and chief curator of Puma.Creative, working under Jochen Zeitz. This collaboration led to his appointment as founding executive director and chief curator of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (Zeitz MOCAA), which opened in Cape Town in 2017 as a major platform for contemporary African art. He resigned from Zeitz MOCAA in 2018 amid allegations of misconduct.
Throughout his life, Coetzee remained active as a writer and art critic, contributing to publications including The Huffington Post, Mail & Guardian, Revue Noire, and Sunday Independent, and publishing monographs on various artists. He was remembered for his belief in the transformative power of art and his influence on the African and international art scenes.