- June 24, 2026
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As F. Scott Fitzgerald so astutely observed, the very rich “are different from you and me.” To begin with, they like to live in very big houses and often have several of them. In order to fill up these spaces, they tend to accumulate stuff — fancy cars, fine wines, custom-made furniture, antiques and valuable art.
Unless you have very rich friends, you might not see these treasures until they end up in a museum or up for auction at Sotheby’s or Christie’s, which publicly display pieces before they go under the gavel.
Until now.
Unless you’re the kind of person who reads Artforum magazine, you may not be aware that a major exhibition of contemporary art loaned by collectors from Southwest Florida is happening in your own backyard. If you’re familiar with 21st-century culture, you’ve heard names like Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, David Hockney, Yoko Ono, Kara Walker and Ai Weiwei before.
But did you know some of their artwork is currently on display in the old Sarasota High School? Located at 1001 S. Tamiami Trail, the red brick building houses the Sarasota Art Museum.
Run by Ringling College of Art and Design, SAM also hosts the local outpost of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The lifelong learners among us have no doubt heard about the breathtaking exhibition, “Something Borrowed, Something New.” But it was easy to miss its April 27 opening at the end of a busy Sarasota social season marked by some centennial celebrations.
You don’t have to be an art connoisseur to see that the exhibition of 85 pieces loaned by 10 collectors from Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota is nothing short of a cultural coup. It’s also testament to the much-vaunted generosity of the region.
“Something Borrowed, Something New” marks the capstone of Rangsook Yoon’s tenure as senior curator at SAM. Yoon left in May to join the Frye Art Museum in Seattle.
“Something Borrowed” is evidence of Yoon’s ability to identify rising stars in the contemporary art scene. In addition to the boldface names already mentioned, the exhibition includes such cutting-edge artists as Derrick Adams, KAWS, Cara Romero, Hank Willis Thomas, William Villalongo and others.
To be sure, these artists represent eyes and hands that have been long ignored in the art world. But no one should dismiss “Something Borrowed” as a survey of “woke” art or an overdue nod to representation. This is a stunning assemblage of what the very rich among us consider to be worth collecting.
The diplomacy and negotiating skills that Yoon and others at SAM must have employed to bring the paintings, photographs, sculpture and multimedia works to SAM’s galleries can only be imagined.
We’re talking about hours, if not weeks and months, of courting and cajoling. And there are strings attached. Certain twin images like Hank Willis Thomas’ “Silver Lining A (No Flash)” and “Silver Lining A (With Flash)” from the collection of Stanton Storer must always be reproduced together. A minor detail to be sure, but one that demonstrates how the owners of artwork still want control over their acquisitions.
But even if the very rich are different from you and me, they are not, like Chekhov’s proverbial happy families, all like. Some flaunt their wealth while others keep a low profile.
The rare opportunity to see how the other half lives drew an SRO crowd to a Q&A session moderated by Yoon on April 18 that brought together Storer and Mark Salzberg, both major lenders to “Something Borrowed, Something New.” Salzberg’s wife, Donna, was in the front row, lending support to her husband.
Like big-game hunters back from safari, Storer and Salzberg traded war stories about discovering artists at Art Basel Miami and traveling to galleries around the country to bid on their work. Salzberg, who is also in the business of collecting and authenticating rare coins, got ribbed by Storer. “Because I’m not married, I don’t have to check with anybody to see if it’s OK to buy something,” Storer teased Stanton.
When you enter the “Something Borrowed, Something New” exhibition, you are greeted by three Mickey Mouse-like sculptures by the artist KAWS on loan from the Salzberg Collection. Titled “4 Ft Companion (Gray), (Brown) and (Black),” the painted vinyl figures have Mickey’s shoes and gloves, but not his ears. Where an eye would normally be found, there is the letter “X.”
“What does it mean?” pondered a group of SAM visitors on a recent tour led by docent Diane Farber. Like all the docents wearing signature pink aprons and nametags at SAM, Farber is quite knowledgeable about her subject. She confirmed someone’s suspicion that “X’s instead of eyes means erasure or invisibility.”
Erasure is a thread that runs through “Something Borrowed.” In Kara Walker’s “Lost Mountain at Sunrise,” on loan from the collection of Keith Monda and Veronica Brady, the artist has embellished a picture from “Harper’s Pictorial History of the Civil War” by adding Black characters.
Some of the artwork on display in “Something Borrowed” take images that have been appropriated and reclaims them. Foremost among this genre is the huge sepia-toned print by Cara Romero called “TV Indians,” on loan from the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection.
A registered member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Romero photographed family members outdoors under a majestic sky. Dressed in traditional Native costumes, they are flanked by vintage TVs and computer screens with such familiar characters as Tonto and the Lone Ranger.
Ai Weiwei’s “Coca Cola Vase” from the Salzberg Collection and the bright red “The Papercut Portfolio (Cats and Dogs; Citizen’s Investigation; New York; Furniture; Haircut; Map of China; River Crabs; Zodiac)” on loan from Storer depict an ancient culture being enlivened but also corrupted by American-style capitalism. Follow the progression of papercuts and you’ll discover the Chinese artist’s disillusionment with life in New York City.
Hard as it may be to believe, the vase with the familiar soda logo is at least 2,000 years old and dates to China’s Han dynasty. Incredible!
To describe “Something Borrowed, Something New” as awe-inspiring is an understatement at best. It’s worth seeing several times.
Before you go, spend a few minutes in front of David Hockney’s “Inside It Opens Up As Well,” which contains many artworks within a piece that is 90 inches wide and 33 inches high.
Hockney, an unapologetically gay Yorkshireman who fell in love with California, died at age 88 on June 11. Try to spend 10 minutes looking at “Inside It Opens Up As Well.” The artwork-gazing challenge is a TikTok staple and was recently embraced by The New York Times.
As you lose yourself in one of the stupendous pieces at SAM, you’re likely to overhear comments such as, “Do people really keep these pieces in their living room?” Yes, they do. During the opening day panel discussion, Storer and Salzberg showed photographs of art in their homes. Lest there was any doubt, the photos confirm that the very rich are different from you and me.
