An hour’s train ride away on the spanking new Brightline from Downtown Miami, and not far from the action in Wynwood and Miami Beach, the Bunker Artspace is the brainchild of art collector and West Palm Beach denizen, Beth Rudin DeWoody. This wonderful, weird creation is the newest entrant to the world of Miami private collections, joining those of the Rubells, the Margulies’s, the de la Cruzs, and opened in 2017, during the last edition of Art Basel. There are multiple rooms spread over two floors with more than 500 works, elegantly curated by Laura Dvorkin and Maynard Monrow. DeWoody has a penchant for the creepy crevices of the human psyche, so this collection is not for the faint of heart or the prudishly inclined. While some permanent displays are holdovers from the previous year, exciting new additions include exhibitions by two guest curators with a sharp focus on women: Her is HERE curated by Eric Shiner, Director at White Cube; and Tales from the Crate Room curated by E.V. Day, artist and winner of the prestigious Rome Prize 2016. There was also a brilliantly and funny performance, Inner Course: The Agony of It All, by the collaborative duo, Rya Kleinpeter and Tora Lopez at the opening on December 2. The two role-play Lucille Ball, complete with hilarious orange wigs, in a scene that recalls the actress’s bedroom from the hit TV show, I Love Lucy. Reading to each other from a mountain of books that propagate patriarchal myths about womanhood and feminism, they periodically break into theatrical false tears in response to the agonies of misogyny. SHARMISTHA RAY
The Bunker Artspace is open by appointment. Located at 444 Bunker Road, West Palm Beach, FL 33405.
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