Sports figures are increasingly becoming serious collectors, helping drive interest in contemporary art and particularly in artists of color.
Carmelo Anthony, the 10-time N.B.A. All-Star who announced his retirement in May, said that when he was starting out as a professional basketball player he did not understand art, but grew to appreciate it and began collecting as he matured. Now paintings by major Black artists including Nelson Makamo, Swoon, Rashid Johnson and Kehinde Wiley line the walls of his Westchester home.
“It’s the emotional attachment that you have when looking at a piece, which makes you want to go back and see it over and over and over again,” said Anthony, 39. “You learn something every time you look at it.”
Professional athletes have grown more serious about buying art in recent years — not unlike other people with new wealth who become collectors. But their fame has helped make them tastemakers, with the ability to help drive interest in contemporary art and particularly in Black artists and other artists of color. Now many sports figures are being courted by galleries, auction houses, art shows and museums.
“This is a new collector base in the art world,” said the art adviser Gardy St. Fleur, who represents several players. “It’s growing fast.”
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
