The musical powerhouse couple's collection tells the narrative of the Black experience with "Giants" at the Brooklyn Museum.
“One of the main things for them is people of the culture owning their own role and culture,” she explained. “They said, look, we have a family, we want to see ourselves on these walls, and be able to create a legacy for our kids.”
Gant is referencing the historic erasure of Black culture and figures from the Western art canon—a lack of representation that the Deans are addressing by collecting the work of storied and living Black artists whom the couple deem “giants.” Fittingly, the show opens with Ebony G. Patterson’s room-filling installation, a glitter-lined ode to childhood. A pair of massive portraits of Keys and Swizz follow, resplendently painted by Kehinde Wiley, the artist’s Renaissance-esque flourishes an act of reclamation.
