‘Giants: Art from Alicia Keys & Swizz Beats Collection brings Black artistic legacy to Atlanta

“This collection is your collection. This is everyone in here’s collection. The Dean Collection is your collection” said Kasseem Daoud Dean, record producer, rapper, and DJ, who is more commonly known as Swizz Beatz. The opening of Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys took place at the High Museum of Art on Friday, Sept. 13. 

Dean’s statement encapsulates the essence of the exhibition—a celebration of Black art, culture, and legacy. Giants, which runs from September 14, 2024, through January 19, 2025, is the first major presentation of the Dean Collection in the south. There is a hope that the collection will leave a lasting mark on the region, according to Dean.

Friday the 13th, often considered a day of superstition, instead marked a historic moment for Atlanta as Swizz Beatz (whose birthday also fell on this day) and his wife, the Grammy award-winning artist Alicia Augello Cook, or as she is professionally known, Alicia Keys, visited the city to kick off their collection’s first stop on a national tour. The exhibition offers a focused selection of works by Black diasporic artists, ranging from 20th-century icons such as Nick Cave and Gordon Parks to contemporary innovators like Amy Sherald and Deana Lawson.

The collection, curated by the Brooklyn Museum, represents 10 percent of the Deans’ entire holdings, and includes 115 objects, 98 of which are major artworks. Through this exhibition, the Deans seek to trace the evolution of their collection and highlight the social impact of Black artists on the global art scene. Thematically, the artworks tackle issues of societal relevance, monumentality, and the ongoing influence of Black artists on art history.

In an interview with The Atlanta Voice, Alicia Keys illuminated the deeply personal significance of preserving and promoting Black art. “It’s bigger than transactional. It’s bigger than just one moment,” Keys said, speaking to the sense of purpose that drives their mission. Emphasizing the importance of breaking down institutional barriers, particularly those that historically have excluded Black artists, Keys hopes that the exhibition will spark a sense of empowerment. “We belong everywhere,” Keys declared. “We really created everything. It’s a beautiful celebration of that power. You feel it when you walk in this room.”

This celebration of Black culture and creativity is central to the Dean Collection, which, according to Keys, was built with more than just a collector’s eye. She explained that the relationship between artists, whether musical or visual, is born from shared experiences and emotions. “You feel their pain, their passion, their story, their vision,” Keys said, describing the connection she feels with the art. Drawing parallels between her music-making process and curating the collection, she spoke about the emotional and spiritual resonance that both mediums evoke.

The exhibition not only features paintings, sculptures, and photographs but also includes non-traditional art objects that offer insight into the Deans’ diverse interests. Visitors will find musical instruments, albums, and even BMX bikes that the couple has collected over the years. This incorporation of personal memorabilia gives the exhibit a unique texture, blending cultural objects with fine art to create a holistic view of the Deans’ lives as collectors and creatives.

Kimberli Gant, the curator of modern and contemporary art at the Brooklyn Museum, emphasized the significance of bringing Giants to Atlanta, a city that has long been a hub for Black culture. She pointed out that while the Dean Collection includes artists from various cultural backgrounds, this exhibition focuses on showcasing Black artists who have been historically underrepresented in major galleries. Gant explained, “This becomes an expansive presentation of art history that often is not taught in the giant catalogs that we get when we’re studying in school.” By presenting works by both established and emerging Black artists, Giants aims to fill gaps in mainstream narratives and offer new perspectives.

Gant hopes that the exhibition will resonate with local audiences in Atlanta, a city with a rich history of art, music, and activism. She expressed her desire for visitors to feel a sense of recognition and belonging when they see the works on display, regardless of their background. “I want visitors to come in and see themselves,” Gant said. “Whether or not you are Black, this is about human expression.”

The exhibition is as much a cultural statement as it is an artistic one. Swizz Beatz reflected on the challenges of building such a collection, explaining that it wasn’t just about acquiring the pieces. “A lot of works you see there, we had to fight to get those pieces, not because we couldn’t afford them, it’s because they weren’t used to us buying works on this type of level,” Swizz Beatz shared. For the Deans, the collection represents a way to reclaim space within the art world for Black creators. “We felt like, no, what is it going to do? Just sit in storage? Hang on our walls?” Swizz Beatz stated. Instead, they chose to share the collection with the world—and more importantly, their community.

Whether through the lens of music, visual art, or personal expression, Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of representation and the enduring legacy of Black creativity.

In Gant’s words, “This is an expansive presentation of art history,” one that invites all who attend to find something meaningful and perhaps even transformative.

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