Rubell Museum Debuts Alexandre Diop Exhibition and More During Miami Art Week

The Rubell Museum in Miami announced a slate of new exhibitions opening during Miami Art Week 2022, highlighting work by the Museum's Knight Foundation-supported 2022 artist-in-residence Alexandre Diop, as well as solo exhibitions by artists including Patricia Ayres, Doron Langberg, Jared McGriff, Jo Messer, Clayton Schiff, and Tesfaye Urgessa. Also on view will be the Museum's collection highlights, drawn from the Rubell Family's expansive collection of contemporary art and featuring works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Jammie Holmes, Yayoi Kusama, Yoshitomo Nara, Sterling Ruby, and Kennedy Yanko among others.

Based in Vienna, Franco-Senegalese artist Alexandre Diop (b. 1995, Paris) uses discarded objects to create work that raises questions pertaining to sociopolitical, cultural and gender issues. Drawing inspiration from his European and African roots, he explores the legacies of colonialism and diaspora while tackling universal themes of ancestry, suffering, and historical violence. For his exhibition at the Rubell Museum, on view November 28, 2022 through November 12, 2023, Diop will present a selection of works created over the course of his 3-month residency. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue featuring an essay by scholar Mara Niang and a conversation between Diop and Hans Ulrich Obrist, alongside a selection of color photographs.

"In recent years, the Museum has continued to expand its programming to share both new acquisitions and highlights from the collection, as well as works developed by its artists-in-residence, a position most recently held by Alexandre Diop. This year's presentations represent a continuation of our mission to spotlight a diverse mix of contemporary artists while encouraging public dialogue," said Jason Rubell. "Works on view include both significant pieces by artists our family has engaged with over decades, as well as exciting work by artists we have recently interacted with during studio visits, and from whom we have commissioned bodies of work."

In addition to the presentation by Diop, the Museum will feature new exhibitions throughout its galleries, on view through November 12, 2023, including:

Patricia Ayres (b. 1975, New York, lives and works in New York)

Patricia Ayres' practice relates to stories of isolation, separation, and confinement. Analyzing the mechanisms of physical and psychological control, Ayres creates anthropomorphic, totemic sculptures that are wrapped with strips of elastic, liquid latex, padding, and other materials, and incorporate techniques that draw on the artist's background in fashion design.

Doron Langberg (b. 1985, Israel, lives and works in New York)

Representing a new generation of figurative painters, Doron Langberg creates luminous, vibrant, and often large-scale works that hinge on a sense of intimacy. Depicting himself, his family, friends, and lovers, Langberg's paintings celebrate the physicality of touch-in subject matter and process-a closeness that engages with new dialogues around queer sensuality and sexuality.

Jared McGriff (b. 1977, Los Angeles, lives and works in Miami)

The paintings of Miami-based Jared McGriff blend together the artist's present with real or imagined glimpses into his family history. Through dream-like depictions, McGriff captures fragmented, distorted memories of previous generation's migration from the rural south, reflecting on how the past continues to shape contemporary identity and experience.

Jo Messer (b. 1991, Los Angeles, lives and works in New York)

Jo Messer's paintings push the tradition of classic nude portraiture to explore the many potentials of the genre, from the erotic to the whimsical. Her chromatic, almost abstract figures of women extend beyond the borders of the canvas, offering new perspectives on sexuality and the human body.

Clayton Schiff (b. 1987, New York, lives and works in New York)

Clayton Schiff gathers impressions of an unconscious that distorts, displaces, enlarges, and compresses experiences accumulated while awake. His haunting iconography simultaneously evokes alienation with fantastical creatures and strange landscapes that have a subtlety and lightness that is playful and even humorous.

Tesfaye Urgessa (b. 1983, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, lives and works in Nürtingen, Germany)

In Tesfaye Urgessa's work, there is a mute reciprocity between the observer and the observed that shifts the power dynamics and the notion of agency and race. Drawing on his childhood memories of Ethiopia, each composition is derived from the depths of Urgessa's subconscious, where disjointed images of emigration transcend to the outside world and onto the canvas.

Collection Highlights, Ongoing

Since the new Rubell Museum opened in 2019, the Museum continues to draw from its extensive collection to share new works with viewers. Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Condo, Keith Haring, Jammie Holmes, Martha Jungwirth, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Louise Lawler, Yoshitomo Nara, Sterling Ruby, and Kennedy Yanko are some of the exhibition highlights.

Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Rooms and Narcissus Garden, Ongoing

Yayoi Kusama's celebrated, fully immersive installations create a kaleidoscopic effect that transports visitors to an alternate, limitless universe. The Rubell currently hosts the Infinity Rooms Where the Lights in My Heart Go, 2016 and INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - LET'S SURVIVE FOREVER, 2017. Concurrently, the Museum is presenting Kusama's mesmerizing, monumental Narcissus Garden from 1966. Composed of 700 stainless steel spheres, the work flows 200 feet along the Museum's central gallery, creating an ever-changing river of reflection.

Miami Art Week Hours

During Miami Art Week, the Rubell Museum will have extended visiting hours in place:

Monday, November 28: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Tuesday, November 29: 10:00 am - 5:30 pm

Wednesday, November 30: 10:00 am - 5:30 pm

Thursday, December 1: 10:00 am - 5:30 pm

Friday December 2: 10:00 am - 7:30 pm

Saturday, December 3: 10:00 am - 7:30 pm

Sunday, December 4: 10:00 am - 5:30 pm

Hours and Admissions

The Rubell Museum is open year-round Wednesday through Sunday. The hours are 11:30 am - 5:30 pm Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday and 11:30 am - 7:30 pm On Friday and Saturday. Advanced tickets are recommended and can be purchased here. Tickets can also be purchased at the Museum's front desk.

Admission to the Rubell Museum is free for veterans, SNAP EBT cardholders, children under 7, and Museum members. Admission is $10 for children 7 - 18 and students with ID. General admission is $15. Regular admission includes access to Yayoi Kusama's Narcissus Garden. There is an additional $10 fee to access both Yayoi Kusama Infinity Rooms. Museum members may access these Infinity Rooms free of charge.

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