Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz will show their art collection at the Brooklyn Museum.
Jamel Shabazz, Breezy Boy Breakers, Midtown, Manhattan, NYC, 2011. © Jamel Shabazz. Photo by Glenn Steigelman. Courtesy of The Dean Collection, Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys.
Singer Alicia Keys and her husband, producer Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean)—both Grammy Award winners—will exhibit their private art collection at the Brooklyn Museum. The exhibition, titled “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys,” will feature works by nearly 40 prominent Black artists, such as Gordon Parks and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The show is scheduled to run from February 10 to July 7, 2024.
“Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys have been among the most vocal advocates for Black creatives to support Black artists through their collecting, advocacy, and partnerships. In the process, they have created one of the most important collections of contemporary art,” said Anne Pasternak, the museum’s director.
Derrick Adams, Man in Grayscale (Swizz), 2017. © 2023 Derrick Adams Studio. Photo Glenn Steigelman. Courtesy of The Dean Collection, Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys.
In 2018, Dean told Cultured magazine that he started collecting work from Black artists because not enough people of color were collecting work from artists of color. Since then, the couple’s art collection has grown to include several legendary artists.
One section of the exhibition, “On the Shoulders of Giants,” will pay tribute to influential elders like Esther Mahlangu and Kwame Brathwaite. Their works, ranging from abstract paintings to street photography, have paved the way for future generations. Other sections will include “Giant Conversations,” featuring artists whose work offers social commentary, and “Giant Presence,” dedicated to monumental contemporary works such as Nina Chanel Abney’s Catfish (2017).
