Beyond the Rainbow
Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach, Florida
The Bunker Artspace opened in December 2017 as a private art space in West Palm Beach, Florida. Presenting rotating exhibitions of the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, The Bunker showcases a vast range of contemporary art, iconic pieces of furniture, and other curiosities. Built in the 1920s as a toy factory and utilized as a munitions armory during World War II, the Art Deco building now provides the ideal stage to show a considerable amount of work outside of DeWoody’s domestic spaces and to a wider audience by invitation and scheduled private tours.
Through DeWoody’s passion, vision, and continuing support of emerging artists and galleries, she has redefined the boundaries of collecting. By championing emerging and, at times, overlooked artists, especially in the early stages of their careers, she has amassed a truly unique collection. From a significant amount of work in the Collection, DeWoody and co-curators Laura Dvorkin and Maynard Monrow have assembled a selection that includes works by leading contemporary artists, while always pushing beyond “the greatest hits” to deliver a more complete view of contemporary art today.
This season, our 2025/2026 Guest Curator, Marie Watt will present Companion Species (Witness), an exhibition that highlights the interconnectedness between humans, other species, and the land, while presenting an incredible range of Indigenous artists in conversation with artists across all backgrounds. Watt asks, “Could learning the history of a place reframe our relationship to it? Could we begin to steward the planet differently if we humans saw ourselves as related to animals, plants, water, and other entities that we share space with?”
“This idea drives much of my creative work, and became the organizing curatorial approach for Companion Species (Witness). Sifting through Beth’s wonderful, extensive collection, I encountered old friends and discovered new ones. An expanded understanding of kinship on this planet began to emerge, conjuring disparate humans, creatures, plants, animals, families, communities, stars, and the land. Pulling these threads, I sought to weave a web of interconnectedness—invoking conceptual, figurative, abstract, and material companion relations.”
In addition, the 2025/2026 Bunker Installation includes an expansive, multi-space exhibition titled Beyond the Rainbow, which honors the LGBTQ+ community and its impact at this pivotal moment and in this crucial place, Florida. Spanning a century, the show brings together artists from diverse backgrounds and generations, and across the spectra of sexuality and gender, amplifying voices long central to culture yet too often relegated to the margins. It forms a dynamic tapestry of queer history,artistic movements, and resilient spirit—underscoring the vitality of queer creativity across time, media, and society.
For Beyond the Rainbow Laura Dvorkin and Maynard Monrow are joined by a curatorial roundtable of nineteen deeply respected artists, curators, gallerists, architects, and writers—Erin Christovale, Patrisse Cullors, Jeffrey Gibson, Hilary Harkness, Steven Henry, Cary Leibowitz, Kalup Linzy, Agosto Machado, Peter McGough, Ryan McNamara, Sophie Mörner, Anne Pasternak, Alina Perez, Sharmistha Ray, Joe Sheftel, Mickalene Thomas, Sarah Thornton, Ara Tucker, and Kulapat Yantrasast.
Individual photography courtesy Fredericks & Freiser Gallery Archives.