You’ve Got to Know the Rules…to Break Them

Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz have selected a group of artists from their personal collection who have been associated with defining 21st-century practice. Aware of the influence that technology and the rise of consumerism have on their work, artists exhibited follow the cool forms of Minimalism and Expressionism, while injecting their works with subtle negations of their process. This is present in sculpture as well, as artists on the second floor embrace failure and compromise in spite of pre-conceived notions of the final object. Through explorations of the material and traditional techniques behind painting and sculpture, these works co-exist timelessly as strategies of stylistic appropriation raise questions of subjectivity and originality.

“You’ve Got to Know the Rules…to Break Them” contextualizes New American Painting with German Neo-Expressionism, revealing earnest explorations of the artists’ technical acumen.Through experimentation, they antagonize accepted practices by drawing upon a variety of themes including cultural, historical and sociopolitical modes.

Per contra, the third floor contains a study in portraiture and memory with the works of Félix González-Torres, Ana Mendieta, and Rob Pruitt. By transforming everyday objects and using energetic gestures and repetition, González-Torres, Mendieta and Pruitt accept diverse ideologies and reject the notion that art has a single vantage point.