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"Giants," the Brooklyn Museum's latest exhibition, fits its name in many facets. First of all, the show relies on the art collection of two titans in the music industry, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean). Much of the artwork itself is massive, taking over major swaths of the museum. The exhibition features artists who have made and continue to make a significant impact on the art world and contemporary culture.
Finally, and most importantly, the exhibit encourages big conversations that celebrate Blackness, critique society, and imagine a collective future. "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys" opens on February 10 and runs through July 7, 2024. The show features 98 artworks by Black American, African, and African diasporic artists including Gordon Parks, Kehinde Wiley, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mickalene Thomas, Hassan Hajjaj, Barkley L. Hendricks, Lorna Simpson, and Amy Sherald.
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"The Deans consider all of the artists in the show as giants. They have these very strong relationships with the artists that they collect. It's not about transaction. It's about being stewards and advocates and supporters of these artists," Brooklyn Museum curator Kimberli Gant told Time Out New York.
Plus, she added, the Deans want to encourage artists to create in all sizes and scales with the ethos of "go beyond your own imagination."
Given the artwork's size, even the musical mavens themselves hadn't seen all the works in their collection at one time.
“We will not have seen these pieces hanging in one place altogether. This is a first for us as much as it is a first for the museum and as much as it is a first for everybody that comes,” Alicia Keys said in a video at the exhibit.
We will not have seen these pieces hanging in one place all together. This is a first for us as much as it is a first for the museum.
Several murals exemplify staggering feats in scale, like Kehinde Wiley's "Femme piquée par un serpent," a majestic painting in which a Black man wearing a hoodie and jeans reclines in a position similar to a nude woman in a classical French sculpture. A colossal series of paintings by Meleko Mokgosi explores gender politics and power structures in southern Africa.
A standout sculpture by Arthur Jafa titled “Big Wheel” soars into the sky next to the museum’s classic columns. Drawing on Mississippi’s monster truck culture and histories of anti-Black violence, the artwork features a massive tire that hangs on a silver chain. The work underscores “the coexistence of Black Americans’ joys and traumas,” the museum explained.
On the subject of Black joy, artist Derrick Adams (you may have seen his work at Penn Station last year!), makes art that celebrates Black culture. He created portraits of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, which now help welcome visitors to the exhibition.
In addition to seeing incredible visual art, fans of the musical artists will get to learn more about the powerhouse couple who hails from New York City.
Beatz began his career as a DJ, then as a performer and producer for his family’s record label, Ruff Ryders, at the age of 17. The exhibit includes Beatz' collection of BMX bikes, which are deeply important to him. When he grew up in the South Bronx, he admired bikers' artistry but couldn't afford a bike himself. BMX culture weaves its way through the exhibit, including in a vibrant set of paintings by Amy Sherald called "Deliverance" where two bikers float as if suspended in midair.
Keys, a 16-time Grammy Award-winning artist, learned to play the piano as a child, releasing her hit debut album when she was 20 years old. The exhibit includes a piano that she used in a powerful music video for the song "We Are Here."
Other works in the show include Gordon Parks' photographs of the Civil Rights movement, Qualeasha Wood's textile work exploring religious iconography, and Jean-Michel Basquiat's homage to Langston Hughes. In room after room, it's clear how thoughtfully the Deans acquired their collections and how precisely the museum organized their work into a flowing narrative.
"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," Brooklyn Museum's Director Anne Pasternak said in a press release.
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.
They began collecting more than two decades ago, and as their collection has grown, so too has their advocacy for visual artists. The couple, lifelong New Yorkers, have created a collection that feels both global and local.
“They are born and bred New Yorkers. They love New York. We’re so thrilled that New York, their hometown city, was able to premiere the project,” Gant told Time Out New York.
After the exhibition ends, the musicians will donate significant works to The Brooklyn Museum.
“We want you to see that you are also a giant,” Alicia Keys said in a video at the exhibit, “that you are special, incredible, unique, one of a kind.”