Phaidon Announces GIANTS: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys

Courtesy of Phaidon

Phaidon is pleased to announce GIANTS: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys (on sale June), the first book to showcase selections from the world-class collection of musical and cultural icons Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys. This groundbreaking volume presents 100 works by nearly 40 multigenerational Black American, African, and African diasporic artists in the Dean Collection, as well as ten exclusive interviews with select featured artists including Jordan Casteel, Nick Cave, Titus Kaphar, Mickalene Thomas, and Kehinde Wiley, among others. The works included are hand-picked and curated by the Brooklyn Museum for a major exhibition of the same name.

Across more than 250 pages, GIANTS offers an unprecedented view inside the Dean Collection. This fully illustrated large-format publication celebrates a portion of legendary artists represented in the Collection such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gordon Parks, Lorna Simpson; those expanding the legacies of artists who came before, including Jamel Shabazz, Amy Sherald, and Kehinde Wiley; and creators of monumental works, like Nina Chanel Abney, Derrick Adams, Arthur Jafa, and many more. Artworks range from Nick Cave’s textured sculptures examining Black masculinity, Hassan Hajjaj’s photographs of Morocco’s female henna artists, Amy Sherald’s large-scale diptych depicting dirt bike culture in Baltimore, and Kwame Brathwaite’s portrait photography. Whether reimagining self-representation, championing beauty and resilience, or mapping the culture and histories of Blackness, each featured artist embodies the Deans’ collecting philosophy: “by the artist, for the artist, with the people.” 

The concept of “giants” is a guiding ethos of the Dean Collection. Beyond the renown of iconic trailblazers and the impact of canon-expanding contemporary artists, the term evokes the strong bonds between the Deans and the artists they support. Both the exhibition and book examine the links and legacies among multigenerational Black artists and encourage “giant conversations” inspired by works on view—critiquing society and celebrating Blackness.

A foreword by Brooklyn Museum Director Anne Pasternak, interviews with select artists, and a conversation between the Deans and exhibition curator Kimberli Gant further illuminate the significance and impact of this outstanding collection. A comprehensive list of Artist Biographies compiled by curatorial assistant Indira A. Abiskaroon makes this book an essential reference point for those interested in the landscape of contemporary Black art. In her essay that introduces their conversation, Gant also traces Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys’ creative lives and their sources of inspiration. Born and raised as New Yorkers, the couple have been making music for decades and have cultivated diverse passions across music, art, and culture. Swizz began his career working first as a DJ and later as a performer and producer for his family’s record label, Ruff Ryders, at the age of seventeen. Keys, a sixteen-time Grammy Award-winning artist, learned to play the piano as a child, releasing her hit debut album when she was twenty years old. 

Since the Deans began collecting art over twenty years ago, they have focused on supporting living artists. “Our strategy is collecting from the heart. You know, a lot of people call us Black collectors. We’re art collectors, and we happen to be Black. We collect artists from all over the world. The reason why we double down on artists of color is because our own community wasn’t collecting these giants,” Swizz Beatz tells curator Kimberli Gant in their conversation featured in the book. Their shared passion for collecting, supporting, and building community among all artists is at the heart of the Collection. 

The exhibition, on view at the Brooklyn Museum from February 10 to July 7, 2024, journeys through several sections that explore the Deans, the artists they collect, and their varied creative frameworks. Immense pieces—including the largest ever by Meleko Mokgosi—are paired with standouts such as Gordon Parks’s seminal photographs, Kehinde Wiley’s revolutionary paintings, and Esther Mahlangu’s globe-bridging canvases. 

An original design from Phaidon’s Creative Director Julia Hasting, the book’s cover features a bold typographic treatment in vibrant colors, a direct reference to the palette of works in the Collection, while the back cover showcases all the names of creators featured in the exhibition and book, emphasizing the Deans’ mantra of “artists supporting artists.” The expansive trim size and layout allow the artworks, many of them monumental in size, to be largely illustrated. Giants makes this inspiring selection of art from the Dean Collection accessible to the public for the first time.

Personifying the Deans’ present-day collecting philosophy, Giants provides an exciting entry point into contemporary art for a new generation of art enthusiasts through its gorgeous illustrations and engaging texts. A portrait of community, advocacy, artistry, and joy, this remarkable volume resonates across history, genre, and medium. 

GIANTS: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys

Published in association with the Brooklyn Museum and includes an interview by Kimberli Gant

On Sale June 2024 | $69.95 US / $89.95 CAN | Hardback | 256 pp | 125 col and B&W illus. | 97/8 x 123/4 inches | 9781838668693

Pre-Order: phaidon.com, a limited number of signed copies from Phaidon and the Brooklyn Museum

PRAISE FOR SWIZZ BEATZ AND ALICIA KEYS

‘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, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director, Brooklyn Museum

‘Over the past 20 years, [the Deans] have built one of the great American collections of contemporary art, and [Swizz Beatz] has quietly become one of the art world’s most important power brokers, a singular advocate for artists in an industry that often exploits creativity for the sake of the bottom line… [Dean’s] goal has been nothing less than to ‘change the climate’ of the art world, to shift the color of the artists on the walls of galleries and museums, which for most of history have been reserved for white men.’ – New York Times

‘Alicia and Kasseem see themselves not only as collectors of art but as custodians of the culture. Over the years, I’ve watched their collection develop as their vision has widened and expanded to create a collection that really represents the breadth and depth of the work being made by Black artists.’ – Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator, The Studio Museum in Harlem

‘But for Dean, art collecting has become more than a hobby, investment strategy, or status symbol—it’s an ideology that drives both his philanthropic efforts in the art space.’ – Artsy

‘Dean and Keys’s art collection, amassed over 20 years and totaling more than 1,000 works, is as extensive as it is enviable. Years ago, the couple chose to focus on acquiring pieces by African American and African artists, ranging from Kehinde Wiley and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye to Barkley L. Hendricks and Henry Taylor.’ – Architectural Digest