Ebony G. Patterson, “…they were just hanging out… you know… talking about… (…when they grow up…),” 2016. Beads, appliqués, fabric, glitter, buttons, costume jewelry, trimming, rhinestones, glue, and digital prints. (Photo: Adam Reich, courtesy of the artist, Monique Meloche Gallery, and the Studio Museum in Harlem)
For cultural icons Alicia Keys and Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean, collecting art is about more than just taste or style. Above all, it’s about the artists themselves, or, in Keys’s words, about the “giants on whose shoulders we stand.” This philosophy has guided the couple and their relationship with artists for years, allowing them to amass some of the world’s most innovative pieces by Black American and diasporic artists. Soon, West Coast audiences will be able to explore this groundbreaking collection for themselves at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD).
The exhibition, which is aptly titled Giants, was originally organized by the Brooklyn Museum in 2024, gathering more than 130 artworks from the Dean collection. The show will take a similar form at MCASD, unfolding across several thematic sections. “On the Shoulders of Giants,” for instance, traces the evolution of Black art and its intergenerational legacy, as seen through iconic artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kwame Brathwaite, Esther Mahlangu, and Gordon Parks. “Giant Conversations,” on the other hand, synthesizes two distinct lines of inquiry: one concerned with celebrating Blackness, and the other with interrogating hegemonic society. Here, guests encounter everything from Toyin Ojih Odutola’s charcoal drawings that contend with anti-queer discrimination in Nigeria, to Jamel Shabazz’s bold photographs of Black New Yorkers from the 1980s.
As its name suggests, though, Giants would be incomplete without large-scale works. Luckily, the exhibition showcases monumental contributions by luminaries like Derrick Adams, Amy Sherald, and Nina Chanel Abney, among others, underscoring the collection’s “giant presence.” One such installation is Ebony G. Patterson’s they were just hanging out from 2016, which combines an ambitious assortment of materials to recall multiple incidents of police brutality against Black children. The subject’s weight is juxtaposed with the installation’s lush and highly sensorial silhouette, questioning how childhood innocence is all too often misunderstood as dangerous on account of racism.
Beyond this, Mickalene Thomas will also unveil a 25-foot multimedia artwork that was not featured in the exhibition’s previous venues. Inspired by Edouard Manet’s 1863 painting Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, Thomas’s rendition reimagines the scene as one populated by Black women, each of whom confronts the viewer with a confident gaze.
“Giants offers an exciting opportunity for MCASD to participate more meaningfully in crucial dialogues about Black joy, resistance, and cultural identity in contemporary art,” Amy Crum, MCASD’s associate curator, remarked in a statement. “Many of the artists in the exhibition are already in MCASD’s collection and the exhibition will give our visitors a chance to experience them in a new way.”
Taken in its entirety, the exhibition spans paintings, photographs, sculptures, and installations by nearly 40 Black diasporic artists, painting an indelible portrait of Black art from both the past and the present. But, aside from that, it also hints at the future of artistic production, one that, for the Deans, is “by the artists, for the artists, with the people.”
Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys will be on view at MCASD from April 18 to August 9, 2026.
In April 2026, in San Diego, cultural icons Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz will showcase their groundbreaking art collection, spanning more than 130 works by nearly 40 Black diasporic artists.
Mickalene Thomas, “Le déjeuner sur l’herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires,” 2010. Rhinestone, acrylic, and enamel on panel. (Photo © Mickalene Thomas / Artist Rights Society)
Derrick Adams, “Floater 74,” 2018. Acrylic paint, pencil, fabric collage on paper. (Photo: Joshua White © 2023 Derrick Adams Studio)
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, “An Assistance of Amber,” 2017. Oil on linen. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, and Corvi-Mora)
Amy Sherald, “Deliverance,” 2022. Diptych, oil on linen. (Photo: Joseph Hyde, courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth)
Amy Sherald, “Deliverance,” 2022. Diptych, oil on linen. (Photo: Joseph Hyde, courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth)
Jamel Shabazz, “Trio, Brooklyn, NYC,” 1980. Chromogenic print. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © Jamel Shabazz)
Deborah Roberts, “The Visionary,” 2018. Acrylic paint, ink, found photographs, gouache on paper. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © Deborah Roberts)
Esther Mahlangu, “Ndebele Abstract,” 2017. Acrylic on canvas. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © Esther Mahlangu)
Aptly titled Giants, the exhibition will be on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego from April 18 to August 9, 2026.
Jamel Shabazz, “Morning Rush Hour, Brooklyn, NYC,” 1980. Gelatin silver print. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © Jamel Shabazz)
Tschabalala Self, “Father,” 2019. Acrylic, gouache, Flashe, thread, and fabric on canvas. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman, courtesy of the artist, Pilar Corrias, and Galerie Eva Presenhuber)
Nick Cave, “Soundsuit,” 2016. Mixed media. (Photo: Joshua White © Nick Cave, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery)
Jamel Shabazz, “Breezy Boy Breakers, Midtown, Manhattan, NYC,” 2011. Chromogenic print. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © Jamel Shabazz)
Toyin Ojih Odutola, “Paris Apartment,” 2016–17. Charcoal, pastel, and pencil on paper. (Photo: Joshua White © Toyin Ojih Odutola, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery)
Odili Donald Odita, “Place,” 2018. Acrylic on canvas. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © Odili Donald Odita, courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery)
Barkley L. Hendrick, “Fort Charles Crocodile,” 1998. Oil on canvas. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © Barkley L. Hendricks, courtesy of the artist’s estate and Jack Shainman Gallery)
Kwame Brathwaite, “Untitled (Model Who Embraced Natural Hairstyles at AJASS Photoshoot),” c. 1970, printed 2018. Pigmented inkjet print. (Photo: Joshua White © Kwame Braithwaite)
Derrick Adams, “Woman in Grayscale (Alicia),” 2017. Pigmented inkjet print. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © 2023 Derrick Adams Studio)
Derrick Adams, “Man in Grayscale (Swizz),” 2017. Pigmented inkjet print. (Photo: Glenn Steigelman © 2023 Derrick Adams Studio)