The Dean Collection: How Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys Are Redefining The Role Of The Contemporary Collector

Musician Alicia Keys and Kasseem Dean, producer and D.J. popularly known as Swizz Beatz, are leading collectors of Black art in America. From the Ansel Adams photograph which Beatz got with proceeds from his first records with DMX, to the Dean’s most recent recorded acquisition, a 2018 Derrick Adams painting, “Floater 74”, the Dean Collection has increased in thousands. Since Beatz started collecting art as a teenager in the ’90s, he and Keys have expanded their collection to include works from artists of color, especially Black artists. 

Kasseem Dean’s interest in art that was meaningful to the people he looked up to, the stories behind the collections, and how much he enjoyed collecting when he finally got around to starting his collection, all contributed to the pieces that made up the Dean’s early collection. As leading contemporary art collectors of artworks from African-American artists, the Deans have positioned themselves as avid patrons with a mission to build a network that caters to the artists that they collect. Using their connections in the art and music industry, Keys and Beatz have inspired other celebrities like them to collect Black art.

In their years of collecting, Keys and Beatz have talked about how crucial it is for artists, especially black artists to get their worth as it is a way to ensure that the market is fair and sustainable. In a 2019 interview with Artnews, Alicia Keys expressed her faith in a society that reveres people who contribute greatly to their communities.

“There are far too many artists of all kinds –musicians, painters, sculptors, dancers – who have unfortunately contributed so much to the culture and have died with nothing… it’s not the way it’s supposed to be.” Keys said. “As artists [ourselves], we care about living artists and the just due that we receive.” 

Keys and Beatz’s focus is on democratizing the contemporary art scene and ensuring that Black artists’ works are duly represented and valued in the art market and showcasing art that Black people can relate to. Over the years, they have invited the public to view the works in the Dean Collection. After Keys acquired the largest private holding of photographs by American photographer Gordon Parks as a Father’s Day gift for Beatz, the couple exhibited “Gordon Parks: Selections from the Dean Collection”, featuring 80 photographs spanning Parks art career at Harvard University’s Ethelbert Cooper Gallery. Then in 2019, they presented “Dreamweavers,” a two-month-long group show in Los Angeles at the UTA Artist Space (run by the United Talent Agency). It showed works from 20 black contemporary artists such as Carrie Mae Weems, Cy Gavin, Ming Smith, and Karon Davis. The exhibition saw some of the Dean’s friends adding works to their personal collections. 

The Dean Collection will be making another public show this year. The Brooklyn Museum will be showing the Dean Collection as part of the “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” exhibition from February 10 to July 7, 2024. The exhibition will feature monumental pieces, mostly held in private collections, from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Arthur Jafa, Esther Mahlangu, Amy Sherald, Lorna Simpson, Derrick Adams, Meleko Mokgosi, Kehinde Wiley(Nigerian-American), Nina Chanel Abney, Derrick Adams, Radcliffe Bailey, Ernie Barnes, Jarvis Boyland, Kwame Brathwaite, Jordan Casteel, Nick Cave, Hassan Hajjaj(​​Moroccan), Barkley L. Hendricks, Titus Kaphar, Odili Donald Odita(Nigerian-American), Toyin Ojih Odutola(Nigerian-American), Zohra Opoku(German-Ghanaian), Frida Orupabo, Deborah Roberts, Tschabalala Self, Jamel Shabazz, Malick Sidibe (Malian), Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (British-Ghanaian), among others.

With the Brooklyn Museum’s commitment to expanding the art-historical narrative, this exhibition spotlighting Black diasporic voices fits into their ongoing efforts. 

“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,” Anne Pasternak, director at Brooklyn Museum said in a statement.

Giants, organized by Kimberli Gant and Indira A. Abiskaroon, curators at Modern and Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum, represents the strength of the bonds between the Deans and the artists they support, and among the artists themselves. The exhibition will encourage “giant conversations” inspired by the works on view, criticizing society and celebrating Blackness. 

The exhibition will be divided into different sections and will highlight the Dean’s creative efforts as well as details of how the collection was put together. Their effort as collectors is changing how other collectors of African art can and should leverage their positions to support artists of color.