'Giants' exhibit highlights San Diego's arts vitality

The new "Giants" art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is creating a national splash — and demonstrating why San Diego is such a vibrant destination for arts and culture.

San Diego is the only West Coast stop for "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys," which runs through Aug. 9 at the museum on the stunning La Jolla oceanfront. The exhibit showcases more than 130 artworks by 37 Black American and diasporic artists.

The art was collected by the multiple Grammy Award-winning musician Alicia Keys and her husband, the record producer and rapper Swizz Beatz. And in an interview with Visit San Diego, the two spoke glowingly of San Diego. 

"We think this is such an incredible city," said Keys. "Every time you mention San Diego, people's eyes light up, because it's an amazing place to explore."

"Where else do you want to be anyway?," Keys added. "San Diego is such a special place."

Arts at the Forefront

"Giants" is just the latest example of the major arts presence in San Diego and the growing buzz around the city's cultural scene. San Diego is already known for its fertile theater scene (which has sent dozens of shows to Broadway) as well as its beautiful venues, its dazzling array of creativity and its vibrant multiculturalism.

Now, "Giants" is attracting even more attention to the region, and giving arts lovers yet another reason to visit and explore here.

Organized by the Brooklyn Museum, "Giants" showcases Black American and diasporic artists from Africa, Europe, the United States and the Caribbean whose "monumental works tower in both scale, conceptual depth and technical skill," as the museum describes the exhibit.

“'Giants' offers an exciting opportunity for MCASD to participate more meaningfully in crucial dialogues about Black joy, resistance, and cultural identity in contemporary art,” said Amy Crum, Associate Curator at MCASD. “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.”

Lives Lived Large

The exhibit introduces visitors to the creative lives of Keys and Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and their inspirational journey. Among the works is a display of BMX bikes that recall Dean’s upbringing in the Bronx, alongside a piano used by Alicia Keys early in her career. Another section, “On the Shoulders of Giants,” honors the intergenerational legacy of artists who have come before.

A number of large-scale works also speak to the show's title, including a monumental 25-foot work by Mickalene Thomas that is being shown with the Dean Collection for the first time as part of MCASD’s installation.

Fill Your Day With Art

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego is just a quick trip from a wealth of other arts and culture highlights in the area, and if you come see the exhibit you can easily make a day of exploring those cultural riches. Step over to The Conrad, the gorgeous and acoustically advanced performance hub of the La Jolla Music Society. Head up the hill to the famed La Jolla Playhouse for a show, or to the Epstein Family Amphitheatre at the University of California San Diego for a concert. And while you're on campus, be sure to check out the absorbing and multifaceted Stuart Collection of public art, including such eye-catching installations as "Fallen Star" — a small cottage that appears to be tottering off the roof of a campus building.