MIAMI – March 18, 2013 - A selection of works from the Jorge M. Pérez art collection, gifted to the Museum December 2011, is now on view at Miami Art Museum for the first time. More than 500 attended the Wednesday, March 13 opening reception and preview of Frames of Reference: Latin American Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Art Collection. Museum Chief Curator Tobias Ostrander and Pérez discussed the development of the collection during a conversation, which was simulcast in the lobby to accommodate the sold out, overflowing crowd. The exhibition is the last in the Museum’s current space and marks the start of its transition to its new Herzog & de Meuron-designed facility in Museum Park where it will reopen as Pérez Art Museum Miami in honor of Pérez’s now $40 million gift of cash and art.

“On behalf of the community we serve, I would like to sincerely thank Jorge Pérez for the transformative contributions he has made to this institution,” said Thom Collins, Museum Director. “We are thrilled to share the work of some of history’s most important Latin American artists, and look forward to our December reopening in our expanded facility where we will have the room show more of these influential works.”

Frames of Reference, on view through June 2, 2013, explores 44 works of Latin American art in the collection through an art historical lens, emphasizing the tremendous creative and conceptual contributions of artists such as José Bedia, Beatriz González, Wifredo Lam, Roberto Matta Echaurren, Diego Rivera, and Joaquín Torres-Garcia, among others. The complete collection of 102 works will be integrated into the Museum’s existing collection and displayed in the new facility, providing audiences with an opportunity to experience the full scope of the gift. Other major works in the collection which will be highlighted at future dates, including works by Antony Caro, Chuck Close and Robert Rauschenberg. Pérez, a long-time advocate for the Museum, donated a portion his extensive art collection―valued at $20 million―to support the Museum’s expanding role as a cultural hub and resource for the Miami community. Works were chosen in collaboration with Collins and Ostrander, based on their vision for the growth of the overall permanent collection and the direction of the Museum’s curatorial and public program. 

Frames of Reference: Latin American Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection is organized by Miami Art Museum and curated by MAM Chief Curator Tobias Ostrander. Support is provided by the SunTrust Foundation. The opening reception for Frames of Reference is supported by UBS Financial Services Inc. – The Bodner Zubizarreta Group.