"NO MAN’S LAND: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection" Curator Virginia Treanor at the National Museum of Women in the Arts: Sep 30, 2016 - Jan 8, 2017

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NO MAN’S LAND: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection opens September 30, 2016 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. 

This exhibition is a collaboration with the famed Rubell Family Collection, and features work from 37 artists from 15 countries.   Established in 1964 in New York City by Don and Mera Rubell, the Rubell Family Collection is one of the world’s largest privately owned contemporary art collections.  The collection is exhibited within a 45,000-square-foot re-purposed Drug Enforcement Agency confiscated goods facility in Miami.  

The Rubells might be familiar to DC-ites, they are responsible for buying and renovating the Capitol Skyline Hotel in SW DC.

In another interesting tidbit, Don is the brother of Steve Rubell, co-owner of the infamous nightclub, Studio 54.

More great art coming to DC!     

[DonRocks]

Given that this is being held at NMWA, what do you all think of the name of the exhibition? My initial impression is that it's needlessly exclusionary, but maybe there's a reason for that (the all-caps seems to aim for in-your-face-ism, but for what purpose?). Perhaps I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem to me that women artists are short-changed when it comes to contemporary work and exhibitions (I emphasize: Maybe I'm wrong, as I really don't know, and my assumption is entirely based on attending exhibitions at museums.) Anyway, this is just a first impression and not a big deal (at least, not to me), but it does underscore how important titles are - not just for art exhibitions, but in many aspects of life - I'm willing to bet that this show will have a lower percentage of male attendees than usual, just because of its name, although that's probably not tracked (or is it?)

I will add that I detest political correctness infinitely more than I could ever be affected by a reasonable exhibition name (and this is perfectly reasonable) - I posted the first of these videos here, but both are worth watching, not just for entertainment value, but also because they resonate (with me, anyway). I present for your viewing pleasure, John Cleese and George Carlin, both addressing the subject of political correctness:

PS - May I also recommend "O.B.I.T." - Season 1, Episode 7 of "The Outer Limits" (free with a Hulu membership).

[brian]

33 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Perhaps I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem to me that women artists are short-changed when it comes to contemporary work and exhibitions (I emphasize: Maybe I'm wrong, as I really don't know, and my assumption is entirely based on attending exhibitions at museums.) 

Here's a thorough piece by Maura Reilly at ARTnews from 2015: TAKING THE MEASURE OF SEXISM: FACTS, FIGURES, AND FIXES

 

[DonRocks]

10 hours ago, brian said:

Here's a thorough piece by Maura Reilly at ARTnews from 2015: TAKING THE MEASURE OF SEXISM: FACTS, FIGURES, AND FIXES

Much appreciated - I will read this thoroughly tomorrow morning over coffee; right now, I don't yet know what it's about (I just peaked and saw that it looks like it will require some diligence from the reader).

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Edit: Well, that was certainly a thorough article.

 

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I was going to quote some Guerilla Girls stats, but the ARTnews article covered it nicely.  Thanks Brian!

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Reminder:  Closing on Jan. 8, 2017