From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Best Art Gallery

October 18 2006

Rubell Family Collection
95 N.W. 29th St., Miami, 305/573-6090, Rubellfamilycollection.com

The Rubell family is Mera, Don and their children, Jason and Jennifer. The collection is the more than 6,000 contemporary works they have stashed in what used to be a Drug Enforcement Agency warehouse in the Wynwood Art District. The Rubells made their money in the hotel business -- they own the Albion Hotel in Miami Beach -- but since 1996, they've turned their energy and resources to amassing what is widely considered one of the biggest and best private contemporary-art collections in the world. The 45,000-square-foot space houses works by Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel and Keith Haring, among others, though not everything is on exhibit. In fact, curator Mark Coetzee, author of the 240-page Not Afraid: Rubell Family Collection, booked six traveling exhibits this year and has another seven planned for 2007. The Rubell also has a 30,000-volume research library, a media room and a sculpture garden. Closed until Dec. 4, it will reopen with the exhibit Red Eye: Los Angeles Artists.