Marquez Art Projects Opens in Miami’s Allapattah Neighborhood

Real estate developer and restaurateur John Marquez was always a collector. Growing up, he amassed baseball and basketball trading cards, postage stamps, and even vintage military wear. He also had an early appreciation of art thanks to his mother and sister’s Latin American art collection. Eventually, when the 41-year-old had the resources, he went all in buying contemporary art.

Now, a selection of Marquez’s private collection of more than 1,000 works will be displayed with the launch of the nonprofit foundation Marquez Art Projects (MAP). Marquez is opening an 8,000-square-foot Allapattah exhibition space on September 23 to champion emerging visual artists.

The youngest of six children, Marquez was raised in Venezuela until he was 10 and has lived in Miami since. In college, he renovated houses and soon moved on to real estate investing and developing multifamily properties. He also owns the Michelin-starred restaurant Sushi Noz in New York and is a trustee at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami.

Marquez began his collection in 2008 with works by famed street artists Banksy and Kaws.

“When I was younger, it’s what spoke to me the most,” he tells New Times.

He didn’t know much about the art world, but by posting photos of his acquisitions on social media and thanks to his welcoming and affable demeanor, he met and befriended collectors, gallerists, and curators from across the globe.

By 2017, he was buying emerging artists in earnest and influencing others online by sharing his purchases. After Marquez became fixated on the unorthodox work of Robert Nava, the artist gained traction, leading Marquez to gain more credibility in the art world. Eventually, he found community in his hometown’s art scene.

“I started focusing on Miami because I’m here, and why not support the community that I love so much?” he explains.

“At that time, I was still buying to hang work in my house. It stopped my buying because I was like, ‘Where am I going to hang this?'” But once he found storage for his collection, he says, “If my wallet allowed, I had no excuse not to.” Marquez started hosting hundreds of guests at his Coral Gables house during Miami Art Week, eventually consolidating the influx of art lovers for a large annual event.

Because Marquez couldn’t imagine not living with his art, he bought a space in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood to use as an office and to hang out with friends. He realized quickly that he wanted his art to be available to everyone. To get the building ready, he worked with Terry Riley, chief architectural curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. But when Riley passed away during the process, his one-time apprentice, Wesley Kean at KoDA, took over, and Miami-based Studio Roda designed the interior space.

Marquez has tapped his longtime advisor, Adam Green, and ICA’s artistic director, Alex Gartenfeld, as curatorial advisors, leaning on their expertise. “It’s a group effort, but at the end of the day, it’s very much my taste. It’s just an extension of that,” he says. “It’s not the same, curating a house and a space. I’m very visual, but I don’t have expertise beyond that.”

“As a collector, John has a remarkable eye for new artists, and he is remarkably curious and supportive of new ideas and ways of working,” Gartenfeld says. “He is also very supportive of his hometown of Miami and of its growth as a city and cultural center. As a philanthropist and as a trustee, he understands how institutions, museums, and galleries work together to build community and to support artistic practice.”

MAP has four rooms that will be populated with work made primarily in the last five years. One room shows more established artists from the collection, like Rashid Johnson, Kenny Scharf, and George Condo. Another will display major paintings by female abstractionists like Li Hei Di, Grace Carney, and Michaela Yearwood-Dan.

In the room reserved for solo shows, Marquez has commissioned colorful works by Brooklyn-via-Sevilla artist Cristina de Miguel. During Art Week, her work will be replaced by Mexican-American artist Jose Zuñiga. Marquez is providing Zuñiga with a studio to paint new works.

The fourth room will display work by Miami artists, including Alejandro Pinero Belo, Bernadette Despujols, Hernan Bas, and Aramis Gutierrez. “I’m very involved in the community. I like to engage with and support the local artists,” Marquez says. And that promotion is part of the foundation’s mission: “Connecting some of the most exciting, young artists from Miami — but not exclusively — to the widest possible audience,” he says.

Artist Loriel Beltran is thrilled to be included in the inaugural exhibition. “I like John’s sincere and bold approach,” Beltran says, “where he is not afraid to support artists early in their career. That kind of vision has kept Miami at the forefront of the international contemporary art world.”

MAP will join other public spaces founded by area collectors, including the De la Cruz Collection and the Rubell Museum. Marquez calls them “a huge inspiration.” The Rubell Museum anchors the growing art scene in the Allapattah neighborhood, just west of the now largely unaffordable Wynwood Arts District. Nearby, other ICA Miami trustees are launching an arts center, and Andrew Reed, son of Stefanie Block Reed, VIP relations representative at Art Basel Miami Beach, also plans to open a gallery.

Currently, Marquez is the sole funder at MAP and will showcase his collection for free. He plans to add an educational component in the future. “I’m taking it step by step,” he says.

Marquez Art Projects. 2395 NW 21st Ter., Miami; marquezartprojects.com.