Swizz Beatz Has Advice for Art-Lovers and Instagrammers
Swizz Beatz performs during Art Basel. Photo: Getty Images
For years, Art Basel has been a hub for the richest collectors—and the most lucrative art galleries—in the world. But this year, it was Kasseem Dean—the music maven known as Swizz Beatz and revered for his work with Beyoncé and Busta Rhymes—who was disrupting the party… and throwing a bigger one in the process.
The producer commandeered the No Commission Art Fair, an event helmed by his art collective The Dean Foundation that cuts galleries out of the system, and gives artists 100% of their sales. “I don’t think galleries are going away,” he told Yahoo Style, “and I think they’re important and deserve support… but you can bring art directly to the people, too. This is one way to do that.” Another way was by turning his pop-up art fair into a raging concert every night—something Beatz did by arranging live performances featuring his wife, Alicia Keys, A-Trak, and DMX. And since Bacardi was sponsoring the whole thing, he cut down his own bottom line while providing more money to emerging artists.
It was a brilliant way to throw a killer party, and it made Mr. Dean the unofficial Mayor of Art Basel—a man of the people who was also rocking Dior sneakers in the middle of a South Beach downpour. So when we had the chance to participate in Whitewall Magazine’s Art x Instagram Think Tank, which featured Swizz Beatz along with Simon de Pury and Daniel Arsham, we took careful notes.
1. Another selfie? Careful—Swizz Beatz is judging you.
“If you really want to know about a person, you go to their Instagram. You start seeing their repeated behavior on Instagram and you start realizing what kinds of things they value—what kinds of things you value, if you look at your own feed—without ever saying it out loud. If I want to know the character of a person, the resume of a person, you look at their Instagram. It builds up a different conversation for when you go and meet that person—or even if you want to meet that person!”
2. Meanwhile, Alicia Keys is judging him.
“I am addicted to social media. I definitely over-Instagram… But my wife definitely helped me with that. ‘Not the baby. I know he’s cute but some things are just for us.’ And that’s when you need discipline, because sometimes putting things online can be negative. All people don’t have good intentions… You have to discipline yourself and monitor what you put out there. My wife really helps with that; she’s really on me about how, If I post a place, I’m not at that place no more. My Instagram is on a delay.”
3. Want to start collecting? Trust your gut…and their website.
“For me, the way I collect is by feeling. It can be a completely new artist, it can be something that’s not even in the US, but I’ll go to their page and I’ll see, that wasn’t just luck, this person is talented. I think you want to look for consistency in the work. That’s extremely important.”
4. Or just do what Swizz Beatz says, and buy a Gabriel Dawe piece.
There’s a guy named Gabriel Dawe who does an installation using thread and it’s unbelievable. You can see it online but that can’t tell the entire story. It tells a little bit of the story. You look at his work and you say, how does someone with two hands do something that looks like it came from God? This guy is from Texas, he’s humble, he’s laid back, and you won’t believe his work.
5. Instagram Helps Collectors Find New Artists… But it Might Be On the Way Out.
“I would say 75% of the work in the No Commission Art Fair is by an artist I discovered on Instagram… But unless they’re willing to change the format, I think the future of Instagram is right now and we have to enjoy it while it lasts. Our attention span was thirteen seconds, now it’s about five seconds… the cool kids like my son are now onto another discovery, like Snapchat. There’s always another discovery. That’s what it’s about.”
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