Skip to Content
Arts & Leisure

A Grand, Important Exhibit of Contemporary Black Art

Derrick Adams’s “Floater 74” (2018). Acrylic paint and fabric collage on paper. (Image: The Dean Collection)

“Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys” is the special exhibit currently at Mia.

The July 13 end date should not let you postpone your visit but instead be a reminder that it will be your last time to revisit the exhibit. You will want to look at this artwork more than once.

These titans of the music industry have been collecting art, specifically contemporary Black artists, for decades with the mantra of collect, protect and respect.

The Deans collaborated with the Brooklyn Museum to share over 100 pieces from their important art collection with others. Minneapolis now has the good fortune to host Giants.

The exhibit at Mia has been beautifully curated and installed by Casey Riley, chair of Global Contemporary Art and curator of Photography and New Media, and her team with superb lighting and color.

Mia’s large Target exhibition space facilitates the viewer’s movement through the collection and offers opportunities to connect with each piece.

For example, Mia has located the 20-panel installation of “Bread, Butter and Power” by Meleko Mokgosi in its own room. The Botswana artist “interrogates the theme of feminism in the context of southern Africa, and considers the consequences of dividing labor practices by gender.”

Another room is dedicated to the photo- graphs of Gordon Parks, who started as a staff photographer at the St. Paul Recorder and the Minneapolis Spokesman, local Black-owned newspapers, and became the first African American staff photographer for Life. The Deans own the largest private collection of work by Parks.

The Dean Collection contains very large and important artwork that can be enjoyed simply for its beauty and composition. However, the artists have important meanings embedded in the pieces that address issues like colonialism, slavery and racism. For example, Ebony G. Patterson’s “…they were just hanging out you know… talking about…(…when they grow up…)” is a whimsical assemblage of toys, beads and photographs of Black children, but when one looks closer the viewer sees the bullet-like holes that speak to what Deborah Roberts, another artist in the exhibit, calls “the criminal lens through which society often views young Black boys.”

Derrick Adams’s “Floater 74,” which depicts Black people at leisure on pool floats, “claims space for community, connection, and everyday pleasures as enjoyed by Black communities” as it hints at the history of segregated swimming facilities.

As a guide, I would recommend a three step approach for visiting Giants.

First, view the artwork on your own, perhaps on a quieter weekday. You should bring your phone and earbuds to listen to the soundtrack that the Deans have created for the show.

Take a public tour (2 p.m. daily and 7 p.m. on Thursdays) and learn more about these important artists, their techniques and the deeper meaning in the art.

Last, bring friends on a Thursday night and enjoy the entertainment that Anna Dilliard and Lynn Farmer have organized to enhance the experience. June 19 and July 10 will include music. There will be an artist talk by Meleko Mokgosi on June 1.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Hill & Lake Press

Holidays on Hennepin: A Monthlong Celebration of Uptown’s Reopening

Holidays on Hennepin will brighten the corridor from Nov. 28 to Jan. 1 with lights, events, and a business passport program celebrating the long-awaited reopening of Hennepin Avenue South.

October 25, 2025

Help Hill & Lake Press Carry Its Legacy Into Our 50th Year

As Hill & Lake Press nears its 50th anniversary, we’re inviting readers to help preserve nearly five decades of local history — supporting digitization, small businesses and the next generation of community journalism in Minneapolis’ lakes district.

October 25, 2025

Letters to the Editor

Community voices weigh in on the future of Minneapolis — from Uptown revitalization and park stewardship to setting the record straight on DFL leadership and supporting pragmatic, results-driven candidates for City Council and Park Board.

October 25, 2025

Wishing For Snow 

As another chaotic election season collides with an unseasonably warm fall, gratitude feels complicated. Between politics, climate change and human suffering, maybe the best we can do this Thanksgiving is find small moments of hope — and wish for snow.

October 25, 2025

‘Minneapolis for the Many’ PAC: Issues Apology to Local Landlord

The progressive PAC Minneapolis for the Many was forced to publicly retract and apologize after falsely labeling Minneapolis landlord Jim Rubin a “negligent landlord.” The group admitted its claims were untrue and acknowledged Rubin’s work to preserve older buildings and maintain naturally occurring affordable housing — a rare reversal in the middle of an already heated election cycle.

October 25, 2025

Temple Israel Defaced Again, Less Than a Year After First Incident

In a disturbing repeat of last year’s vandalism, Temple Israel was defaced again — this time with Hamas-linked graffiti on the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks. Community leaders swiftly condemned the act as a hate crime, while police and the FBI launched an investigation into the antisemitic messages.

October 25, 2025
See all posts