Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Positive Music MattersPositive Music Matters

CULTURE

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz Art Collection at Brooklyn Museum

Call it an embarrassment of riches: The musician Alicia Keys and her husband Kasseem Dean, the producer and D.J. known professionally as Swizz Beatz, have purchased such massive artworks that only a few could squeeze inside their homes in California, New York and New Jersey. Some colossal paintings by artists like Kehinde Wiley, Derrick Adams and Titus Kaphar eventually got through the door and became staples of the couple’s daily routine — backdrops to movie nights and family parties.

From the Dean Collection, Kehinde Wiley’s “Femme piquée par un serpent,” 2008. On the giant canvas Wiley introduces a Black subject in street clothes in a classical pose, tweaking Western art convention.Credit…Kehinde Wiley, via The Dean Collection

Call it an embarrassment of riches: The musician Alicia Keys and her husband Kasseem Dean, the producer and D.J. known professionally as Swizz Beatz, have purchased such massive artworks that only a few could squeeze inside their homes in California, New York and New Jersey. Some colossal paintings by artists like Kehinde Wiley, Derrick Adams and Titus Kaphar eventually got through the door and became staples of the couple’s daily routine — backdrops to movie nights and family parties.

“We have never seen all these artworks in one room,” Keys said in a recent interview. That will change on Feb. 10 when monumental artworks from their collection star in a major exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum’s Great Hall.

Called “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys,” the show, by dint of its location, endorses the couple as leading collectors of Black artists, though the obvious draw of their own star power cannot be denied. Keys is a Grammy Award-winning singer with a musical, “Hell’s Kitchen,” headed to Broadway this spring and Dean has produced hits with performers like Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and DMX.

Meet the collectors: the musician Alicia Keys and her husband Kasseem Dean, the producer and D.J. known as Swizz Beatz.Credit…Ramon Rivas, via Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys

“There is great brand recognition with the Deans,” said Kimberli Gant, a curator of modern and contemporary art who helped organize the exhibition of more than 100 artworks and was involved in the museum’s recent Spike Lee show. “People love Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, but they don’t know them as collectors.”

Dean started collecting as a teenager in the 1990s, when he bought an Ansel Adams photograph with proceeds from his first records with DMX. But the size and scale of his acquisitions of market favorites has grown since then. Five years ago, he estimated that there were about 400 pieces in his collection; now, he says, that number is in the thousands. Recent purchases include a 2018 Derrick Adams painting, “Floater 74,” which will be on view at the exhibition. The 25-foot-long picture of Black figures relaxing in a pool used to hang in the couple’s living room, creating a blue horizon dotted by inflatable flamingos and other pool toys above a dining area and sectional sofa.

“The reason why we doubled down on African American art is because people weren’t collecting it,” Dean said, explaining that it was difficult breaking into the market at first. The art world is built on relationships and few major auction houses or galleries catered to Black clientele.

“Things flow a little better now,” Dean added, noting the increased diversity  of artists exhibited at auctions and fairs. “I definitely see changes being made, but we as collectors must take responsibility to shape the market.”

The Deans’ modernist home in San Diego, with vintage Afra & Tobia Scarpa chairs and a painting by Derrick Adams along the wall. A Nick Cave sculpture is in the corner, and a Jordan Casteel painting is at rear. Right, an early-20th-century Baga Nimba ceremonial mask. (The home was in Architectural Digest.)Credit…Frank Frances/OTTO

The rate of his acquisitions increased when he joined the Brooklyn Museum board in 2019 after the museum’s director, Anne Pasternak, recruited him.

“I watched as they developed a collection with real passion,” Pasternak recalled in an interview. “I used to go to galleries with them and see them at art fairs.”

The couple said they are preparing to donate several works from their collection to the museum but declined to name exactly which or how many works will become gifts, saying the list is being finalized. Pasternak said her personal favorites included a diptych by Amy Sherald, panel paintings by Meleko Mokgosi and photographs by Gordon Parks.

Planning for the Brooklyn Museum exhibition started in 2022; Dean resigned late last year from the museum board to avoid the appearance of any conflict. “It was the right thing to do because we wanted to keep focus on the show,” he said.

Nonprofit museums often rely on wealthy trustees to lend cash and clout to their institutions, but conflict-of-interest rules typically prevent those board members from financially benefiting from that relationship.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“It looks like the Brooklyn Museum is trying to avoid an appearance of conflict,” said Sally M. Yerkovich, chair of the ethics committee of the International Council of Museums, who is currently leading revisions of the council’s ethics code. “As a trustee, the primary focus should be on benefiting the museum, not the trustee personally.” Displaying the collections of board members on the museum walls is generally frowned upon, Yerkovich said, explaining that artworks displayed at museums often gain higher financial value in the secondary market.

Dean said that the couple was neither financing the show nor intending to sell anything on view.

For the last two decades, some critics have accused the Brooklyn Museum of staging populist exhibitions that are thin on scholarship, starting with its 2002 “Star Wars” spectacle, which the New York Times critic Michael Kimmelman described as “a quick, temporary means to make headlines, boost attendance figures and raise cash.”

More recently, the museum has produced or borrowed well-received shows about the musician David Bowie, “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” and “African Fashion” along with memoirist entertainments like the filmmaker Spike Lee’s “Creative Sources.” It defended to the hilt allowing the comedian Hannah Gadsby to help curate what became a highly controversial Picasso exhibition. In 2024, the museum is preparing to announce “Eyes of the Storm,” an exhibition of photography by Paul McCartney from the Beatles’ era. It is currently at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va.

Pasternak defended the museum’s programming. “I recognize that some are cynical about our efforts,” Pasternak said. “Doing things by the book has never been what works for us. And as long as we do it with real rigor and care, I think it is important to continue experimenting.”

“People make a big deal about those celebrity names, but I see them as people who are adding to culture in a significant way,” the director explained. “For people who are not interested, we have five floors of our extraordinary galleries and permanent collection.”

If visitors come to satisfy their curiosity about what kind of art two of the world’s most popular musicians collect, pay the $25 special exhibition fee and stay because of the Dean collection’s strengths, then the show will have been a success, Pasternak said.

Amy Sherald’s diptych, “Deliverance,” 2022, one of more than 100 artworks from the Deans’ collection. The depictions of young men on motorcycles allude to a well-known work: “Napoleon Crossing the Alps,” by Jacques-Louis David.Credit…Amy Sherald, via The Dean Collection

“As artists themselves, Alicia and Swizz are focused on showing the synergy between musicians and visual artists who are trying to make change in the world through forms of creative expression,” Gant, the curator, said.

Even frequent museumgoers would be surprised by the collection, Gant said, pointing to rare landscapes — 14 of them — by the portrait artist Barkley L. Hendricks and a tire sculpture by the video-maker Arthur Jafa. Other works — including a glittering installation by Ebony G. Patterson and four sexually charged scenes by Nina Chanel Abney — pop with color.

From the Dean Collection, a Gordon Parks photo of Muhammad Ali, “Untitled, Miami, Florida,” 1970/2018.Credit…The Gordon Parks Foundation, via The Dean Collection

“I think that people are going to be very taken with what they see,” Keys said, adding that her mantra when collecting art has always been: “by the artists, for the artists, with the people.”

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

You May Also Like

CULTURE

etween her duties for the county, mentoring young girls, and taking local Newark students to Seton Hall basketball games, Murray-Thomas’ days, nights, and weekends...

CULTURE

Mother & Daughter Building a Legacy of Black Excellence in Brooklyn Known throughout Brooklyn as “The Prophet of Nonprofits,” Rev. Dr. Valerie Oliver-Durrah is...

Uncategorized

CULTURE

The media referred to him as a “controversial figure,” “race baiter,” “charlatan,” and more since the 1980s. When he began organizing protests and protesters...

CULTURE

I always loved Black History Month as a child. I looked forward to the posters and filmstrips that featured people who looked like us....

CULTURE

In this episode of Essex County College's Community Education Forum, host Alfred Bundy speaks with guests Melba Moore (Tony Award winner and 4 time...

MONEY

Atlanta mom Jasmine Crowe-Houston launched Goodr, a company that keeps food out of landfills while addressing food insecurity. Here, her story and tips for...

CULTURE

Exercise may not be the best way to lose weight. A quick Google search on exercise reveals many impressive health benefits and weight loss...

CULTURE

Aisha Glover joined Audible as VP, Urban Innovation in 2020, when Audible’s Founder Don Katz asked her to help lead our Global Center for Urban...

CULTURE

NJPAC celebrated Max Roach’s centennial with a screening of the new documentary Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes at the Newark Museum of Art. Afterwards, a panel...

CULTURE

Reginald Dwayne Betts recalls being tried as an adult and sent to prison for carjacking when he was 16 and how that eventually led...

CULTURE

Activist and Chairperson of the December 12th Movement Viola Plummer has died. Her passing was announced on Monday. She was 86.

EDUCATION

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Education (DOE) Chancellor David C. Banks today announced that the city has...

HEALTH

When Jennifer Jones Austin, wife, mother, lawyer and child advocate, and the picture of good health, found herself burdened by a fever she couldn’t...

CULTURE

A 20-bed “bridge housing community” is open for people in immediate need of shelter, the city announced on Monday, Jan. 8.

MONEY

 New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) approved two new programs, the Urban Preservation Program (UPP) and Workforce Housing Program (WHP), while committing...

CULTURE

The Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Greater NY & Vicinity installed Rev. Dr. James A. Kilgore as the new president of the 125-year-old clergy organization...

CULTURE

Folks who lived in the NYC area during the 80’s & 90’s remember Hal Jackson’s Sunday Classics heard on then Black-owned WBLS-FM. Many of...

CULTURE

GetCoveredNJ is the only place that you can apply for financial help to lower the cost of your monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs for...

CULTURE

Titled “Harlem EatUp!,” the Luminary Awards Dinner truly lived up to its name. At the renowned Alhambra Ballroom in Harlem, guests dined on an...

CULTURE

Mayor Ted R. Green, the East Orange City Council, and the Departments of Public Works and Recreation & Cultural Affairs officially broke ground on...

CULTURE

As a fitness expert, I often encourage clients to care for themselves first. It seems selfish, but the fact is that self-care is necessary...

CULTURE

Chika climbs in through the store window first and then holds the shutter as the woman climbs in after her. The store looks as...

MONEY

Financial health is an important foundation that helps build strong and resilient households, communities and economies. Being financially healthy better prepares you for life’s...

MONEY

We’re ringing in a new year, and that means a fresh start for your finances! Becoming more financially savvy can positively impact your overall...

CULTURE

The upcoming holiday season is a festive time of year. It’s getting colder, so we try to stay warm, we invite friends and family...

CULTURE

As the end of 2023 draws near, some of us may be feeling our holiday spirit dampened by current happenings in the world. There’s...

CULTURE

Three things you immediately recognize about Jacques DeGraff: his personable demeanor; his quick wit; and impeccable style. He speaks and moves in a smooth,...

CULTURE

Rev. Dr. Lester W. Taylor Jr. began his pastorage at Community Baptist Church (CBC) in Englewood, NJ 30 years ago in May, 1993. “I...