The Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at the University of California, Davis, unveils the first U.S. presentation of Italy’s renowned Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection, and the first solo museum exhibition of artist Ruby Neri, on Jan. 26. Through Their Eyes: Selections from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection focuses on international and intergenerational perspectives of women artists working in a variety of media, and Ruby Neri: Taking the Deep Dive presents new figurative ceramics of female nudes. 

“We are honored that Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo has chosen our university museum as the venue for the U.S. premiere of her collection,” said Manetti Shrem Founding Director Rachel Teagle. “It’s an extraordinary opportunity to showcase diverse, groundbreaking work and build upon the museum’s track record of featuring women artists at significant moments in their careers. Closer to home, showing Ruby Neri’s large-scale ceramic work at UC Davis represents both a literal and artistic homecoming for an artist whose work resonates deeply with Northern California’s artistic legacies.”

A free public opening featuring an artist conversation with Neri takes place from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the museum Sunday, Feb. 2. Both exhibitions join Light into Density: Abstract Encounters 1920s–1960s|From the Collection of Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem, which opened Sept. 19. 

Through Their Eyes: Selections from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection brings together more than 60 works of painting, photography, sculpture and video by some of the most prominent artists in the art world today, as well as rising new voices. From iconic images — photographer Nan Goldin’s Joey on my roof, NYC (1991) or Barbara Kruger’s Untitled (Not ugly enough) (1997) — to newer imaginaries — Canadian painter Ambera Wellmann’s To a Girl in a Garden (2023) or American artist Danielle Mckinney’s She (2023) — the exhibition gives visitors and the university community the chance to experience world-class art. They touch on the construction of identity, particularly through the lenses of gender and sexuality, using different methods — including humor, exaggeration, shifting scale and the language of advertising — to investigate stereotypes and expectations.

Featured artists

Giulia Andreani, Vanessa Beecroft, Berlinde De Bruyckere, June Crespo, Ana Elisa Egreja, Jana Euler, Isa Genzken, Nan Goldin, Mona Hatoum, Barbara Kruger, Zoe Leonard, Sherrie Levine, Sarah Lucas, Jumana Manna, Wangari Mathenge, Danielle Mckinney, Tracey Moffatt, Jill Mulleady, Shirin Neshat, Katja Novitskova, Paulina Olowska, Catherine Opie, Christina Quarles, Cindy Sherman, Anj Smith, Rosemarie Trockel, Andra Ursuta, Hellen van Meene, Ambera Wellmann and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

The Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection and the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo 

The Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection is one of the most important private collections of contemporary art in Europe. It comprises over 2,000 artworks by both emerging young artists and artists of international renown which have been displayed in museums throughout Italy, France, Spain, Austria, Poland and the United Kingdom.

Established in 1995, the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo is a not-for-profit institution reflecting the guidelines of a new form of art patronage based on a sharing of interests, skills and individual resources. One of the first private foundations to have been set up in Italy, the fondazione sets out to act as an observatory of today’s artistic trends and cultural styles, marking the development of the private collection and its transition towards an organized activity open to the public. In its Turin and Guarene venues, as well as its Art Park, also in Guarene, the fondazione organizes and promotes exhibitions, activities and projects focusing on contemporary artists. Since 1995, the fondazione has supported young Italian and international artists by commissioning and producing new works, promoting contemporary art and attracting an ever-growing participating public. The Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection’s first U.S. presentation is intentionally at a university museum, reflecting the educational focus of the collection and foundation.

Through Their Eyes: Selections from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection is on view Jan. 26 – June 22. The exhibition is curated by Susie Kantor, associate curator and exhibition department head. Read a full press release here.

Ruby Neri: Taking the Deep Dive is the first solo museum exhibition of the artist’s work. Neri sculpts brightly colored personal motifs and uninhibited female nudes, playing with familiar forms and monumental scale to challenge our expectations. At a time when women’s rights and bodily autonomy are under fire, Neri brings power and agency to the female body. Her figures reflect her own experiences of womanhood and motherhood, and a mirror for broader issues around gender and sexuality. Ruby Neri (b. 1970, San Francisco) has been one of the leading figures in the return to ceramics as a contemporary artmaking medium. Recent shows include Funk You Too!, Museum of Arts and Design, New York (2023); The Flames: The Age of Ceramics, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (2021–2022); and New Time: Art and Feminisms in the 21st Century, (2021) and Alicia McCarthy and Ruby Neri / MATRIX 270 (2018), both at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, or BAMPFA. Her work is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Brooklyn Museum, New York; de Young Museum, San Francisco; and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Neri lives and works in Los Angeles. 

While Neri is an established voice in contemporary ceramics and the LA art scene, her roots are in the Bay Area. The daughter of the late sculptor and UC Davis professor Manuel Neri, she draws inspiration from the boundary-pushing work of Northern California artists of the 1960s and ’70s. This exhibition is the first to recognize a career that spans decades and is deeply grounded in California. 

Ruby Neri: Taking the Deep Dive is on view Jan. 26 – May 5. The exhibition is curated by Ginny Duncan, curatorial assistant.

Light into Density continues

The new exhibitions join Light into Density: Abstract Encounters 1920s–1960s|From the Collection of Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem, the museum’s first student-curated and student-designed exhibition. Most of the 15 paintings — including works by Francis Bacon, Salvador Dalí, Vassily Kandinsky, Wifredo Lam and Joan Miró — are on public view for the first time in decades. Thirty-two undergraduate and graduate art history, museum studies and design students worked on the exhibition throughout 2023-24. The works in Light into Density come from the collection of art lovers and museum founding donors Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem, and are shared between the Manetti Shrem Museum and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (On view through May 5.)

Art Wide Open

The Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art is a contemporary art museum for today, committed to honoring the past and shaping the future while making art accessible and approachable to all. It builds on UC Davis’ legacy of exceptional teaching and practice of the arts to offer engaging experiences, exhibitions and educational programs that reflect and serve the community. One-third of the museum’s 30,000-square-foot space is devoted to instruction, including a lecture hall, classroom space and the drop-in Carol and Gerry Parker Art Studio. Opened in November 2016, the museum has earned numerous architectural honors, including being named one of the 25 Best Museum Buildings of the Past 100 Years by ARTnews. The museum is located at 254 Old Davis Road, Davis, California.