I I "' FINDERS KEEPERS Miami's power collecting couple are exploring new avenues of art with a maverick insider. south london artists Francesca Gavin reports. Portrait by Lea Crespi usband and wife Don and Mera also with Ian Schrager, of Morgans Hotel before there are reviews, before there Rubell are acknowledged art Group - the couple inherited his interests are incentives". The couple's quest has royalty. With over 50 years of and later launched their own successful recently brought them to south London. collecting under their belt, they hotel group with a number of properties "There's something very powerful in have supported generation- in their home town of Miami. As their going into a new neighbourhood," Hdefining artists at key moments early in business prospects grew, so did their art says Mera. ''Art feels good when it's their careers, such as Jeff Koons, Keith collection - the publicly accessible Rubell part of a reinvention, a revitalisation. Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Where Family Collection (RFC) now comprises We are very, very excited." the Rubells go, everyone else is quick to over 7,000 works and is housed in a They began working with London- follow. When they first started collecting, 3,750sq m space. The couple was also based Eugenio Re Rebaudengo, the Don worked as a doctor, while Mera was instrumental in setting up the Miami founder of digital art platform Artuner, a teacher. They began their collection outpost of Art Basel and is generally after visiting his Studioscape project in soon after marrying in 1964, always agreed to have had a huge influence on 2015. This "exhibition" took collectors starting with studio visits and personal the transformation <?f the city's art scene. into the studios of five south London- conversations with artists before The Rubells have never been afraid based emerging artists; all were five investing their weekly budget of $25. to trust their instincts and invest in minutes away from each other by car. After the death in 1989 of Don's younger names. Mera describes this Re Rebaudengo wanted to bring the brother, Steve Rubell - co-founder of search for the new as "a bug", an works to life through the studio-visit iconic 1970s nightclub Studio 54 and addictive "thrill of knowing something experience, aware that while major howtospendit.com 41 .