Art World Politics, The Met Gala & What Derrick Adams Said

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]is not a story about success. It's a story about conviction. Derek made a decision early on that he was not going to make work that was centered around trauma.

[00:00:10]>> That always blows my mind when black artists make this kind of traumatic work and they say like even if you even if you don't sell it to a black person, me a white person or a non-black person, [music] they can resell your work. Like your work can go up on the mark. You can't control who has you can't control your work. You can't say only Republicans can have your work, only Democrats can have your work, only You can't. It's impossible.

[00:00:42]Derek Adams career is not a story about success. It's a story about conviction.

[00:00:48][music] Derek made a decision early on that he was not going to make work that was centered around trauma. That always blows my mind when black artists make this kind of traumatic work and they say like who even if you even if you don't sell it to a black person, me a white person or a non-black [music] person, they can resell your work.

[00:01:12][music] [music] Hey, hey, hey.

[00:01:26][music] [music] [music] [music] Heat.

[00:01:51][music] [music] [music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [music] Heat. Heat.

[00:02:14][music] [music] [music] [music] Before [music] [music] [music] I even say good morning, I want to say something to you guys. I want to ask you something.

[00:03:11]If you could choose who represents America on the biggest international art stage in the world, who would you pick? And what would you want them to say about us? Right? Those of you that are American, I do recognize that a lot of you guys who are a part of this community, a part of the Glory gang, are not American, but I want to know in particular, those of you who are American, if you could personally choose who represents us on the main stage, on the biggest international stage in the entire art world, Who would you choose? Who would you pick? And what would you want them to say about who we are as Americans?

[00:04:04]Because somebody said or somebody made that choice this year, okay? And the way they made it and who they chose and who paid for it is going to tell us a lot.

[00:04:18]And it's telling us everything about where we are honestly politically.

[00:04:23]Um, but also where the art world is right now.

[00:04:27]I don't really like to talk about politics on this channel. I have personal conversations about politics. Um, that's not the main core of this channel.

[00:04:38]That's not the main core of what Dear Glory is, what Dear Glory World is.

[00:04:46]But politics seep in to everything that we do and we almost can't even help it.

[00:04:59]>> [snorts] >> So I want to start this conversation by saying we can't avoid that art is political because almost everything is political if not everything boils down to the politics to what we've chosen as a democracy.

[00:05:20]Um, and that doesn't just go astray when we talk about the arts. So, let me know in the chat. Are you guys familiar with the Venice Bianala?

[00:05:35]Are you familiar with it? It's happening right now or it's going to start. It's it actually opens up to private previews and everything, I believe. Open up tomorrow. What's May 6th? And it opens up to the public on May 9th. It's in Venice, Italy. It is the biggest stage for the arts the entire year. We talk about all the fairs and we go to the fairs and we cover the fairs, but this one in particular is the biggest stage of all. We can kind of simplify it to being the Olympics of the art world, right? And when you think about the Olympics in in any space, well, what you have to put into context is or it just it's really simple. But we don't even have to contextualize it. You send the best of the best to the stage. You send the best of the best to represent.

[00:06:28]Excuse my nails because I need them done and my daughter has been crazily beyond. Anyway, you send the best of the best to the stage and typically that's what we do.

[00:06:44]You know, in 2024, we sent Jeffrey Gibson, who did a monumental job, an incredible job. Before that, we sent Simone Lee, our Simone Lei.

[00:06:59]Monumental job. Incredible job. And this year, and correct me if I'm wrong, I'm think trying to think of his name. We're sending Elma uh Elma Thomas. Alma Thomas, a man.

[00:07:15][snorts] And what's been very different about this year, first of all, is how he was chosen, who's behind him, and who's paying for his pavilion. So, just to even put that into perspective for you, every every other year, bianale means every other year in French, we send the biggest artists, the biggest American artists to this stage, and there's a pavilion that they hold. It's the American pavilion.

[00:07:47]Well, it costs a lot of money to do this. The US typically puts up about $375,000 to send this person to send this artist to represent America.

[00:08:01]And the rest of the funding, the rest of the money is going to come from private funders, from private investors, right?

[00:08:08]Typically, these pavilions cost millions and millions. Now, we talk about Jeffrey Gibson. His cost, if I'm not mistaken, about five million. Simone's cost about 7 million. And y'all correct me if I'm wrong. Okay.

[00:08:24]Now, if the US only gives us $375,000 to send this person to this big stage, where does the rest of the money come from?

[00:08:33]The rest of the money is coming from private funders, private investors, etc., etc., but they usually make themselves known. We usually know who's funding the project. We usually know who the funders are. This year, we don't.

[00:08:45]What was really interesting about this year was there was a private link on an organization that's only been up for a year that was accepting $100 donations from Americans to fund this. Again, typically this is funded by private investors. So then the question becomes why is no one publicly funding this this year? Is it because of the artist?

[00:09:18]Is it because of the politics around what this year represents? Is it because of the way in which we said someone would be chosen?

[00:09:32]It's all of those things. And I really want to talk about him because the main framework to choosing an artist for this year was that artist being an exceptional American.

[00:09:45]And in this climate, what does it mean?

[00:09:51]What does it mean as an artist in this climate to be an exceptional American?

[00:09:57]So, I want to go back to the question.

[00:09:59]If you were sending personally, you guys, y'all that are watching, right? If y'all were sending an artist to the biggest international art stage in the world, who would you pick? And again, what would you want them to say about us? And again, somebody made that choice. We're going to get into all of it, okay? Today, the Vinnie Bian, we're also going to talk about the Met Gala or the Met Gala, however you want to say it. And also, we're going to talk about something Derek Adams said in conversation that I have not been able to stop thinking about. If you guys don't know, if you didn't see the pre-roll before this video, Derek Adams and Dexter Wimberly came on to Dear Glory to have a conversation with me about how success happens and how success happened within their own personal art world. And we talked about this. That video is going to be premiering on Thursday. So excited about it. So much gratitude to you all for showing up on this channel and subscribing and liking and sharing. And if you have not liked the video yet, please click that thumbs up. It does so much for this channel. I cannot appreciate you all enough because y'all are here and you guys are engaging and telling us what you want and who you want to see come on to this channel.

[00:11:12]We're able to make these things happen.

[00:11:14]And I would say having them two together, Derek and Dexter both in the same conversation. What a dream come true. And also something I never could have imagined, right? I mean, just standing in front of Derek Adams work, just going to fairs and going to shows and seeing his work.

[00:11:33]I never imagined that one day I'd be interviewing him or Dexter. And I have to give that all up to you guys and thank you all for just always being here because those type of things don't happen without community. And you guys have become my community. And so, shout out to you all for just being that. and being a part of what we're building here on Dear Glory. So, make sure you guys, if you're not subscribed, subscribe. Some of you all are watching this and you're not subscribed. So, make sure you're all subscribed, but also make sure you hit the notification bell so you know when videos drop and when we go live. If you hit the notification bell, you got you're going to be reminded that the video that the interview with Derek Adams and Dexter Wimberly is premiering on Thursday at 6 p.m. It's a conversation you do not want to miss. All right, so y'all come in, y'all get settled, say what's up, let me know where you're from, let me know where you're streaming from. Y'all know I'm in Houston, Texas. Give me some engagement in the chat. What's going on?

[00:12:39]How was y'all's weekend? Have y'all watched the Did y'all watch the Met Gala? You know, they said fashion is art, so we got to talk about it, right?

[00:12:47]Um, y'all know anyone that's going to Italy uh for the Bianale? What's going on with y'all? Say hello. Say what's up.

[00:12:56]Say how y'all doing. Drop your city.

[00:12:59]Show some love. Uh so we can get started. I need to know y'all are here and y'all are engaged and we are a community and we're in this together.

[00:13:08]I'm not just talking to myself. We don't go live to talk alone. I go to live I go live to engage with you all. So the more you engage, the more you all push the needle and move the conversation in ways that the conversation can go. Um y'all are in control of these conversations.

[00:13:24]And I just want to be very very clear about that. You are in control of the conversation. I might come with the topic. I might come with the skeleton of a conversation of what I think we're going to talk about, but when you all engage, it pushes the conversation to where you want it to go. And I want to remain in the space to where you're in control of those conversations. So let me know you're here. Say what's up. Say how you doing. Drop your city. Okay.

[00:13:52]So now that we're settled, let's go ahead and start with Venice. Okay. The Venice bianale. The Venice bianal.

[00:13:59]Um it's in Italy if you didn't know. It's been happening since 1895.

[00:14:06]And every two years, countries from around the globe build these huge pavilions and in this beautiful garden in Venice, Italy. [snorts] And each country selects one single artist to represent their nation. Again, it's like the Olympics of the art world. Let me know in the chat.

[00:14:25]Are y'all even familiar with this? Or is this your first time hearing about this?

[00:14:28]Are you interested in the Venice Bianale? Have you got Have you all gone?

[00:14:32]Who's gone? Who's been there? Anyway, so critics, you got your critics, you got your curators, you have your collectors, you have your gallerist, you have your museum, your museum directors, press, everyone. They're there. They're there for these Olympics of the art world and the selection of who represents your country is not a small thing. It's not a small thing at all. It is a statement.

[00:14:56]It is a statement to say we're sending this artist, especially in specific political climates. It says, "This is what we believe art should be right now.

[00:15:05]This represents our country. This is the conversation that we want to have as a country in the art world." The last two times the United States was in Venice, it was completely historic. In 2022, Simone Lei became the first black woman to represent the US Pavilion. Historic.

[00:15:24]She won the Golden Lion. The Golden Lion is like winning the Olympics. She won the biggest award that she could have.

[00:15:31]And come let me just say this, they just got rid of that award this year if I'm not mistaken. It's something I just quickly read before I hopped on and so I want to revisit that while we're here. And so just so many things happening this year that I just can't wrap my head around.

[00:15:48]Anyway, Simone won the Golden Lion and her show was called Sovereignty and the world itself, the word itself was a statement. Okay.

[00:16:01]And the way that she came, I want to show you guys. Actually, let's let me let me pull that up so y'all can see exactly what this exhibition was because I want to I don't want to just talk, right? This is so visual will be insane for me not to show you guys what she brought and then we'll go into Jeffrey Gibson as well.

[00:16:28]Manumental monumental.

[00:16:35]Okay, let me show you all.

[00:16:38]Look at how beautifully gorgeous this is. She's typically building these sculptures with these faceless or uh they have these bodies, but the the face does not exist. And if you dig into her work [snorts] just totally um you'll see that pattern over and over again.

[00:17:05]And I just want you guys to see the way that she's approaching her work and get an idea of how monumental and how big and how much space her work takes up. [snorts] How you can't ignore the messaging of her work.

[00:17:28]Anyway, I don't want to spend so much time there. I just want you all to see and also, you know, put some work, some of the art to a name because I'm more than likely you've seen this before.

[00:17:42]So, she was the first black woman, right, to go into this space in 2022.

[00:17:50]And if I'm not mistaken, her pavilion cost upwards between5 and $7 million. So did Jeffrey Gibson. And it's important to know these things. important to know how much it costs, number one. Important to know how historic it was that she was there, number two. And it was important also to know that she won the the Golden Lion, the highest honor in Venice. Okay.

[00:18:14][snorts] In 2024, you have Jeffrey Gibson, who became the first indigenous artist to represent the US. Backto back historic historic moments. First black woman and then the first indigenous artist. also just super celebrated, super historic. Both of their pavilions were backed by major institutional funders, the Ford Foundation and the Melon Foundation, who publicly and proudly announced their support. Here, here are the words that I'm saying. They publicly and proudly announced their support. Their names were prominently featured. It was considered an honor to be associated with th with those pavilions, to be associated with that level of history. This year is a completely different situation. And I want to walk you guys through exactly what's happening. And to be honest with you, I'm still in my research phase of figuring out what is going on and what actually went on because we're here now, right? It's it's opening in a few days and it's been paid for. But I've been on this journey to figure out who the heck paid for this. And why was the US asking for spare change? Why was the US asking the American people, the one of the richest countries in the world, if not the richest? Why was the US asking the American people to fund something that private funders, private investors typically fund? It's a completely different situation this year. And you know there a ton of controversial headlines going on um have been covering the surface and they've also been covering the story underneath what's going on in the Visbian this year because it's crazy. So let's talk about Alma Allen. Okay, who was selected Alma Allen who is representing the United States this year. Um he's a self-taught sculptor. He was born in Utah and he lives in Mexico. And I want to be really clear, his work is is cool. It's somewhat considered beautiful. Um I could consider it beautiful as well. He makes these abstract sculptures in bronze and wood and stone and also um marble. And we could take a look at his work, but he has these forms that look kind of ancient and futuristic.

[00:20:38]uh solid bronze that appears to be kind of like in this liquid form and this stone that looks like it was smoothed by sanding. So, let's let's take a look at it really quick. I can show you better than I could tell you.

[00:20:52]Alma Allen.

[00:20:55]Let's put some faces to some names.

[00:21:03]Alma Allen sculpture.

[00:21:16]So the work is beautiful and you know for many people many people would say it's it is g gorgeous. Um, just want you guys to check out who this artist is that's representing America this year who we consider as a country to be one of the most important artists of our time who we want to represent the US. So Alma Allen, you see his work. You can dig into the rest of his work totally [snorts] on your own, but I wanted you guys to just kind of get an idea of what his work is actually looking like. Okay.

[00:21:51]His exhibition this year is called Call Me the Breeze. And it opened, it's going to open this week. He's a real artist.

[00:21:59]He's doing real work. And I want to say that before I tell you anything else.

[00:22:02]He's definitely an artist. He's definitely he has, you know, some great people that he's worked with. But it gets very, very complicated because he didn't apply for this commission. You have to apply for this position. You have to apply. And I and I also want to be clear what America was searching for this year in that app in that application. America was searching for an artist that represented American exceptionalism.

[00:22:28]And I guess that becomes the question, what is American exceptionalism? As an artist, how do you represent American exceptionalism in such a political climate? especially when we know what is considered to be American exceptional ex exceptional exceptionalism I'm sorry I'm skipping all over my words um these days anyway Elma was approached directly so the normal selection that process you know where the curators are submitting proposals and the national endowment for the arts remember that name assembles an advisory panel of arts professionals remember what I remember what I just said typically The national the NEA which the funding for the NEA was cut by 85% this year.

[00:23:16]The National Endowment for the Arts assembled an advisory panel of arts professionals typically and the most compelling proposal wins. The NEA their budget was cut by 85% this year which means they were not able to put that advisory panel together this year.

[00:23:36]They do not have the resources which means there was not a process a a a legitimate process in picking an artist this year. Okay. Before Allan was selected, another artist had already been chosen, an artist named Robert Lazareni. Okay. And he was working with curator John uh let's see, let's look it up. Try to remember these people's names. But y'all, it got messy. John Ravvelini. I don't know. I think that is Revanel.

[00:24:08]John Ravenel. John Ravvelini. Something like that. So, let's let's let's see if we can find it while um while we're talking through it. But anyway, this never happened is what I'm trying to get to. Okay. So, forget all these people's names. Regardless of the folks names, it didn't happen. The only name that we really need to remember right now is Elma Allen and the National Endowment of the Arts because the National Endowment of the Arts weren't able they was not able to put together that panel to pick an artist in a legitimate way. Let me see what's going on in the chat.

[00:24:44]Definitely familiar with the Venice Bianal. After learning about Mark Bradford, I wanted to attend when Simone Yeah.

[00:24:51]Yeah. I mean, I have someone here. I don't know. My um my chat's not popping up for some reason, but I got someone here that said, "Feels like it was a safe pick." I mean, I don't know if that if it was a safe pick. I think it was a political pick. Um anyway, so funding is typically like we talked, we already talked about the funding. Okay.

[00:25:16]Now, let's talk about the State Department of the US. Under Trump's administration, this is where we get political.

[00:25:23]Under Trump's administration, Alma Allen was picked.

[00:25:32]Under Trump's administration, there was no longer a committee to select the artists. Under Trump's administration, the NEA had budget cuts of 85%.

[00:25:47]which doesn't just affect Venice. It affects all artists in museums that depend on government funding. It it it affects if you're an artist that you depend on government funding. It affects you.

[00:26:00]It affects the entire ecosystem.

[00:26:03]Especially if you depend on government funding. And I don't mean like typistbacked government funding. If you're an artist that depends on government funding, government grants, right?

[00:26:15]It affects you because 85% of the budget was cut. There is no more there there there's they have no more bandwidth.

[00:26:25]So there's so much that can't be done.

[00:26:29]Okay?

[00:26:32]And under Trump's administration, Alma Allen was selected. The $375,000 that we talked about a little bit earlier, it was still sent. That money still it still went. But like I said, these pavilions cost millions and millions and millions to build out. So who paid for it?

[00:26:53]The US pavilion or somebody I'm still in research phase so y'all can even help me figure this out. Somebody is lying about accepting $100 donations from the American people to pay for this pavilion because that's not what happened. The American people didn't pay for it. The American people didn't raise the money $100 at a time. Strangers didn't pay for this $100 at a time. This was backed by people that backed Trump. Those people are quietly coming in and paying for this pavilion. That's why we don't know about it. That's why it's not super public. We knew about the Ford Foundation. We knew about the Melon Foundation. That was loud and that was proud. We have not one idea who selected or who's paying for the selection of the pavilion of Elma Allen.

[00:27:53]And I only bring that up because all of it's up because I just want you guys to know how political the arts can be. And I want you all to know that the choices that we make for our government does fall into the arts. You might think it does not. You might think we don't have to think about it. And I know that we're talking about this at a super high level, but like I said, the NEA cut 85% of funding, meaning that affects you.

[00:28:21]That affects me if I'm applying for government grants to keep this going as someone that's in the arts, creative grants, that money was slashed by 85%.

[00:28:34]And so some of the things that you see happening, especially with these nonprofits and these museums, not the big museums, I'm talking about the smaller museums that depend heavily on government funding. This is this is on happening on a large stage, but these small museums and these artists in different local, different cities, they're feeling the effect of what we're seeing happening on a large stage.

[00:28:58]politics affecting who gets chosen to represent America.

[00:29:06]That's not just happening in the arts.

[00:29:10]The art is the arts are just a reflection of it. And I'm not saying anything negative about Elma Allen, but let me tell you something. He said yes when a lot of artists said no.

[00:29:23]He said yes when his gallery dropped him for saying yes. His gallery told him not to do it. They dropped him.

[00:29:31]They did not want him to do this.

[00:29:34]They dropped him from for doing it.

[00:29:37]Because they didn't want to be attached to what American exception exceptionalism is right now in 2026.

[00:29:46]So yeah, I just wanted to let you guys know that. I thought it was very very very important for you all to see how the art world how politics can affect the art world and how politics can affect the money that circulates within the art world. Okay, really really important for us to pay attention to it. Very very important. So the next thing I wanted to talk about was y'all Derek Adams came on the show.

[00:30:18]Derek Adams and Dexter Wimbley. We've had Dexter Wimbley before. You guys know who Dexter Wimbley is, correct? Well, if you don't know, he is a curator and an artist advocate. And he is an independent curator. Let me be very clear. He's an independent curator. So, he curates independently. He's not attached to a museum. He's not attached to an institution. He goes into these spaces and advocates um for the artists that he's working with or advocates for the projects that he's working on. And if you don't know, Derek Adams just um he just opened his exhibition at ICA Boston, which is his mid-career survey.

[00:30:58]So, arguably the most important exhibition of his career. So, Derek um I'm sorry, Dexter is curating that exhibition along with the guest curator that is at the AA Boston. and both Derek and Dexter came onto the channel to talk about that exhibition amongst many other things. I want to tell you guys this is not the typical Derek Adams conversation. This is not a written interview. It's not the New York Times.

[00:31:27]It's not art news where we ask him a few questions and the article is 300 words long. No, this is a 2hour long conversation between myself, Derek Adams, and Dexter Wimberly, and we talk about so many things that I've never seen him I've never seen him or heard him talk about. Maybe he's talked about him during panels that um weren't recorded, but this is on record. And so, I want you guys to make sure you click that notification bell so you can come and watch that conversation. If you seen the clip before this um live even started, you seen him touch a little bit on black artists selling their artwork to uh people that are not black. It's been an ongoing conversation here in the art world, or shall I say the black art world, if that exists, right? Um we're all kind of just in the same space. But what I will say is he went deep into his thoughts around why you can't control the distribution of your artwork. And even if you do control it on the front end, you can't control it on the back end. So who is this conversation for? I mean, we could go so deep into this.

[00:32:41]This is a conversation for collectors.

[00:32:43]It's a conversation for artists. It's a conversation for dealers. So, it's a conversation for so many people, especially, and he mentioned this as well. We're we're in this climate where we've seen so many different people say, "Well, I'm going to put a clause on uh the purchase or the acquisition of my artwork, saying you can't sell my artwork for the next seven years once you acquire it." And he touched on that a little bit. Um, and he mentioned, you can't stop that.

[00:33:13]You can't stop it as much as you would like to. Someone could sell it privately uh and you never know about it. They could sell it to their friend and you never know about it. And that person could be non-black. And black artists putting these clauses on their artworks, these no sell clauses are specifically you would be and I don't know how you guys feel, right? These are just my opinions and the perspective that I carry. I've ran into so many artists, black artists, who do not want to sell their artwork to non-black people.

[00:33:47]And I question that. I question what their actual motive in the world is like. What what what not not their motive in the world, but what what is how do you approach that? The question I asked that, why I asked that is because, and I know this is going to get become whatever it can become.

[00:34:12]We engage with multi-racial owned things all the time.

[00:34:19]I am literally on a MacBook.

[00:34:22]Well, iMac. I have a iMac right here.

[00:34:26]There's a MacBook in front of me.

[00:34:27]There's an iPhone next to me.

[00:34:31]I got packages in the mail downstairs from Amazon.

[00:34:36]This is political because we're there.

[00:34:39]We started the conversation political.

[00:34:41]Where do we draw the line? What do we do? You know, even if you think about the whole like we're boycotting Target, right? Then you go to Walmart or you go to Walgreens or you go to HB, which is a Texas owned or Texas branded grocery store.

[00:34:58]I'm using a shore mic.

[00:35:02]There's so many things around me.

[00:35:06]I have no idea who made this shirt.

[00:35:08]There's so many things around me that were not created by black people. And the question that I have for you guys is where how how far do we go? Where do we draw the line? And where do we start?

[00:35:23]What what is the answer? What are we searching for, right, as a community?

[00:35:27]And and I'm I'm not giving you all my political viewpoint. I'm asking a question. Where do we draw the line?

[00:35:33]Where where do we continue this?

[00:35:35]Especially when when you run into black artists saying, I'm not going to sell my artwork to non-black people. So, what is that thought? Is it, well, I'm going to control what I can control and then what whatever I can't control that has nothing to do with me? Is it is it that mind frame? I'm asking you all if you're an artist in the chat, collector, whoever, what is it that mind frame, right? What is is it where do we go with that?

[00:36:02]Are we only controlling what we can?

[00:36:04]Okay, I'll sell my work to only black people. If that black person I sold my work to sells it to uh a white person, Hispanic person, uh whoever, is that okay then? And I only raised that question because I'm only telling you guys a little bit about that conversation and that that was the one clip that we posted saying him saying you can't control it. You can't control whether a Democrat buys your work, whether a Republican buys your work or whether an independent buys your work. You can't control who buys it, especially at at his level. Right? When you have a certain level of distribution, after you reach a certain level of distribution, then you lose a certain level of control. What are y'all What are y'all's thoughts on that? What are y'all's thoughts on that?

[00:36:54]We got somebody in the house from Sydney, Australia. What's up from Sydney? So, I have someone that says, "As a collector, having talked to black artists, a lot of times it's because they don't want to be censored. One artist had his gallery reach out to him to change a finished piece because she's writing more. [laughter] And you know, I see where you're going with that. They don't want to be censored. And I'm I'm imagining I'm imagining that you're saying this artist, this gallery reached out to the artist to change the work so it wouldn't be offensive or something, which is crazy. [snorts] But it also kind of goes into some of the conversation that Derek Dexter and I had about creating joyful work and putting joy into the world instead instead of trauma into the world. and he's very and has been very keen on creating a space for himself where he creates joy instead of focusing on trauma.

[00:38:00]And I believe there's another perspective when you're creating something that's so rooted in trauma and then and rooted in black trauma, right?

[00:38:11]Rooted in the history of black trauma.

[00:38:14]How do you approach that when a white person collects it and lives with it and owns with it and interacts with black trauma on a daily basis? I believe is the question. And does that perspective change when you replace that trauma with joy?

[00:38:33]So anyway, Jessica said it was a historical piece reflecting white only policies and they didn't like it. Oh, that's crazy. Well, they shouldn't buy it.

[00:38:46]If they don't like it, they shouldn't buy it. Or did the gallery not like it?

[00:38:50]Well, that's not the right gallery for this this artist because the gallery needs to, you know, I mean, they could have their opinion, right? They're selling it. They know they know their collector base. They know their audience. Blas blas. Um, and there can be conversations about whatever, right?

[00:39:06]Galleries and artists have many different types of conversations. And within those conversations, sometimes it's, hey, could we go more so this route or could we focus a little bit more on this? And it's up to the artist in the gallery to figure out whether they're going to meet in the middle somewhere. Um, but I think, you know, when it comes to things like that, that artist has to ask themselves a question, especially if their work is centered around trauma and centered around um the histories of black people, which can be traumatic and lots of times is, but lots of times isn't, you know, depending on the histories that we're focusing on.

[00:39:40]Um, they have to ask themselves if they're willing to do that. If they're willing to censor themselves for the gallery and for the gallery's audience, sup's double G. I wish I could put y'all's comments on this on the chat because I get kind of quiet reading them, but for some reason they wouldn't they wouldn't pop up. Uh, someone said, "What's up, Double G's?" what I'm I'm I'm assuming he's meaning what's up glory gang.

[00:40:11][laughter] I love that double G's.

[00:40:14]I love y'all for that. But yeah, I mean I think it's going to be an interesting conversation that I think y'all should really tune into and and listen to and gain your own perspective um you know from and you know see what you agree with what Derek said and what Dexter said and what you disagree. Either way, beautiful, beautiful conversation. They dropped some beautiful gems and again it's just the biggest blessing in the world to be able to be in conversation with giants, literally giants like Derek Adams and Dexter Wimbley and be in this space to where um those conversations can come to you all and you all can engage in those conversations. If you're just joining, I do want you to kind of [snorts] see um what that what that conversation is going to look like. So, I'm going to unmute this here in a second and hopefully I don't get I think I purchased this.

[00:41:12]>> Let's see if we can not a [music] story about success. It's a story about conviction.

[00:41:19]Derek Adams [music] career is not a story about success. It's a story about conviction. Derek made a decision early on that he was not going to make work that was centered around trauma. That always blows my mind when black artists make this kind of traumatic work and they say like who even if you even if you don't sell it to a black person mean a white person or a non-black person they can resell your work like your work can go up on the mark. You can't control who has you can't control your work. You can't say only Republicans can have your work only Democrats can have your work.

[00:41:52]Only you can't. It's impossible.

[00:41:59]>> Yeah. So that's what he said. And of course that's just a clip, right? Like we just we just took a clip, you know, in a few seconds of his words, but what do y'all think about that? Yeah. Some art is um Make art not war 2023 said some art is not for everyone. The question is who is your audience for your work? Um you know, and I would argue that Derek Adams work is 100% for me, right? It's one 100% for me. And we also talked a little bit about um the perspective he has in showing his work and his work being commercialized and showing his work in in white owned spaces or in in you know spaces that are predominantly white and what his argument is or not even his argument but his um what how he feels about that in in in uh in in conversation with people that don't believe black artists should show their work in these institutional spaces that are predominantly white. And you know that's just we're talking about that because that just has been an ongoing conversation and I don't think it's just a black white thing right I think it's when you are a marginalized person and you walk through the world as such those conversations just kind of circulate in loop and and continue um on whether or not you should engage in specific conversations and or in in specific aspects and I just, you know, it's a it was a great talk. He also talked a lot about um what it took to build his career as an artist and Dexter came along as a curator and talked about what it took for him to build his career as a colle as a c as a curator and how as a as partners they've done that together and how together they've built really beautiful um careers and you know taking a look at the last 25 30 years of both of their careers how they've gotten here to the point to where Derek Adams now has a mirror career survey. Just, you know, going into Derek Adams has a mirror career survey taking a look at the last 25 to 30 years of his career and how it has led to where he is now.

[00:44:15]That conversation is definitely going to be something to watch. I encourage you all to watch that. Derek Adams, Dexter Wimberly, and myself sit in conversation. And again, thank y'all because wouldn't do it without you.

[00:44:28]Couldn't do it without you. Wouldn't be able to do it without you being here.

[00:44:32]And on that note, make sure you click the like button because y'all don't even realize how much that does. When y'all click that like button, it's like a signal to YouTube. It's a signal to um sponsors.

[00:44:46]And and and I want to say this, if you are one of those people that's that are like, I want to keep these conversations that we're having on Dear Glory unsponsored and uncontrolled, kind of going back to the gallery wanting to censor the conversation. If y'all want to keep these conversations uncensored and no other opinions coming into these conversations other than you and I's, make sure you subscribe to the Patreon.

[00:45:09]If you don't want to be someone that is a part of the building glory tier, which is the part of like our learning, you know, our glory labs, our strategy sessions, if you're just a collector, if you're just someone who's watching and you want to see this this uh this channel continue, join the supporting tier. You can pay for it all at once, which will be $28 for the year, or you could do $3 a month. $3 a month. If we all do that, this channel can continue.

[00:45:32]And if if it gets to the point to where we're not having the support, then we're not going to be able to bring on guests like Derek Adams. We're not going to be able to bring on guests like Dr. Joy Simmons. We're not going to be able to bring on guests like Larry Osensa. And these guests, they just keep getting bigger and better. And the bigger and better and more spread out they get, the more information y'all have on how to navigate this. Not from just my perspective but from the perspective of people who have done it in many different ways. You know we have to think about the idea the idea and the fact that we all have different journeys into this space. There's not one way into this space and my job my responsibility is to bring you what I've investigated and what I will continue to investigate. How do you be successful in this art world? What do you need to know to be successful in this art world? And I can't give you that information alone. That is not just that's not just my job. It it is not just my journey that I give to you. I have to give you other journeys. I have to give you other perspectives. And in order for us to get those other perspectives into this space, I need that support because something has to fund the channel. And I'm just being 100% real with you all, right? Something has to fund the channel. Something has to fund the production. And what I hope to be able to do one day for you all is go out and go meet them wherever they are. I had a conversation with um long ago with Amako Buafo and he said if you come to Ghana you can interview me and hey somebody got to fund that.

[00:47:10][laughter] But what a great interview it would be right. what what great information it would be for us all to have on how he did exactly what he did, which is a story that's going to go into the history books. If you don't know it, look it up. Awako's story on how he reclaimed his market.

[00:47:30]What a fantastic story. Um, so yeah, you know, just think about that. [laughter] Let's see what y'all talking about in the chat.

[00:47:41]It's true that not every piece of art is for sale. Artists are in charge of their inventory. Yeah, sure. Artists are 100% in charge of their inventory. I find artists that, you know, say things like, "My art is not for sale." When people when when artists start going into the idea that, "Oh, my art is not for sale and nothing is for sale." I think that's fear. Um either that or they just they're going a different route. They're going like the residency route and they're making their money that way and they're going the grant route and making their money that way. But first of all, we got to survive. So either it's a hobby or it's your career. Which one is it? And when we start having, you know, artists that say things like, "I don't sell my work. My work is not for sale."

[00:48:22]I have a big old question mark in front of me. First of all, not a negative question mark, an inquisitive question mark. Okay. Well, how are you funding your career? Um, what route are you going? Are you like a master at receiving grants? Are you um are you Some artists go on these residency jumps. They jump from residency to residency to residency. So, they're living in different places and going different places and they're incredibly nomadic and they're also going to residencies that are giving them really great stipens and along the way they're applying for grants and they've mastered getting grants and so they're they're living off of grants in these residencies, right? And that works. the other artists that are not on that track and they tell me they're not selling their work. I I do have questions about how serious they're taking their career.

[00:49:14]Um and to me again it's a fear thing like oh I'm not selling my work because my work doesn't sell is what it sounds like to me.

[00:49:24]Yeah. So in in Grand Prize Fitness J says someone has to pay for materials.

[00:49:29]And sometimes, you know, when you get these residencies and these grants, they give you material material budgets and material stipens and etc, etc. But it has to be funded. Everything you have, we live in a capitalist if you live in America, but if you live anywhere else, everything's for you got to buy everything, you know. And of course, you can use you can go into the whole used materials and used objects and you can go into that space, but I can guarantee you at some point you're going to need something that's going to cost you some money. And I have to be realistic. And we all just, you know, we got to be realistic. I don't I don't really care to have soft language in the art world. And that doesn't mean I'm cussing all over the place because y'all know y'all don't hear me do that. But, you know, a lot of this soft language that we have in this space is unnecessary. We need to get rid of it.

[00:50:18]We hide behind the fact that things cost money. We hide behind the fact that everyone's so passionate about the arts.

[00:50:23]And because we're passion, we're passionate about the arts. We're driven by the passion. and the passion is driving me and funding me. Yes, we would all do this if we were making no money 100%.

[00:50:36]Or we wouldn't even be here. You can't even make it to a certain extent if you want if you don't do it for the passion and the love. I would not be here if I wasn't doing this for passion and love.

[00:50:46]Trust me, right? And but at some point for everyone, it has to move beyond passion and it has to move beyond love.

[00:50:56]It has to because if it doesn't then it's just a hobby. You're not it's not your career.

[00:51:02]And so if it's a hobby we have to say that this is something that I'm spending money on, not something that I'm making money from.

[00:51:11]And when it's that you still go all in because you you're doing it out of love and care and you're doing it for free because you love it. That's what hobbies are. That's what a hobby is. something that you do because you love it, but could also cost you a ton of money.

[00:51:29]So, the question kind of becomes, well, if I'm not willing to sell my art, then what am I doing?

[00:51:42]Yeah. So, y'all, the Megala, did y'all watch the Megala?

[00:51:49]Did y'all watch the Meg Gala? So, I wanted to show you something. I think I'm going to make a real about it because I think it's really interesting and um I'm not going to be able to like make an entire video about it, but this artist that I collect, well, actually, Nyla, I I don't want to mess up Nyla's last name. That's crazy for me to be on live and not be able to say my girl last name because I just don't want to mess it up. I'm really, really, really bad at names. And, you know, that's another thing that we shouldn't be in the art world. We shouldn't be bad at names in the art world. Opianga. Opiana. Nala, if you're watching this, please don't be mad at me, sis. I love you. Anyway, um, so one of her artworks or she created or co-created, y'all, let me not get the story wrong.

[00:52:38]First of all, do y'all know who L Roach is? Let's start there. Do you guys know who L Roach is?

[00:52:45]Are y'all into the fashions at all?

[00:52:49]Well, let me show you. Let's go look it up.

[00:52:55]I want y'all to see this.

[00:52:57]This artist in particular, Nyla, who I love so dearly.

[00:53:05]I have two of her works in my collection.

[00:53:08]And Lar Roach wore something that was co-designed by her. [snorts] Let me let y'all watch it.

[00:53:28]>> I feel like for once like [music] me going to the Met is about me. I flew Nyla from Ghana to Paris and she created [music] her art on the fabric that would become the jacket of my suit.

[00:53:45]>> Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

[00:53:48]I love it has like >> this I don't give a [ __ ] at the same time. You know what I mean? Which is very me. He he just I think he just nailed my personality. I'm become a huge fan of what Alexandra does at [music] me. Bonjour.

[00:54:06][laughter] >> I see you. It is.

[00:54:14]I wish you were here because as soon as soon as I put it on the whole room, [music] it was just a wow and like a gasp in the whole room. It is incredible.

[00:54:23]>> You know, I feel like you embodies this idea and it's it's it's makes [music] it like very special and I'm happy that we made this together for the very first time.

[00:54:33]>> I want to cry.

[00:54:34]>> No, I want to cry too. [laughter] I mean, tears of joy. Tears of joy.

[00:54:41]I want to be French so bad. How you say?

[00:54:44][laughter] >> Yeah. So, I wanted to share that with you all and hopefully sometime today if I get a chance. It's already 120. Um, I might make a little reel about the works that I have from her in my collection, in my personal collection. I thought that was really cool. Right. I mean, it's it's really great to to see, you know, the people that you are in relationship with show up in those spaces and show up in that way. And it's really amazing to see um La Roach wearing her to the Met Gala and we don't often see that and we just you know as people we just got to keep on going and keep on pushing and as creatives and you know people in the art world and in the art field we have to we tal I talked about this on my last video but I accidentally deleted it so some of you all may not have seen it but we have to be engaged in understanding that we might not make it through the front door. Someone we have to have an understanding that the front door is not always going to be open for us and the back door, the VIP is not going to always be open for us. Sometimes we got to sneak through the cracks and that's what La Roach did and that's what Nile is doing. And when you look at those two things of preparation, you know, meeting opportunity and understanding that, hey, you have to be prepared for success. And that's what I mean when I say, are you ready? You have to be prepared for success. And sometimes success comes at you so fast.

[00:56:23]And the things that you're you're you're searching for and you're asking for and you're looking for, it might just show up at your front door. And you might not have even known what you were looking for, what you were looking for in particular, and it still shows up at your front door. And momentum creates momentum. And because you went through that crack, you went through that window, you went through that side door, you went through that third door, whatever door you could to get to where you're trying to go, those things start showing up at your door. And if you're not prepared, it creates a special type of tension. Um, I don't think you can always be prepared for everything, but you want to be on your journey, your journey to preparation. And I know this conversation was somewhere totally different, but even when it comes to, you know, the Venice bianale and those of us in this conversation who want to get there, how are we going to get there? Are you going to be an artist there? Am I going to be media there? Um, am I going to be a collector there? How are we going to get there? How are we going to get to the places that we want to go? And sometimes you got to choose that third door. And so hopefully Nala is an inspiration to you. She's been such an inspiration to me in so many different, you know, our conversations are just beautiful. And um I'm so happy to see her engage in that space and in a space I'm not sure she ever knew she would engage in. And we have to, you know, just posture ourselves in a way. Derek said something in the conversation and he said something about he doesn't think artists should position themselves and it made me uh critique my own thoughts because I think artists should and even if you don't even if you are an artist and you don't know your positioning yourself you are if you're in the studio every single day and you're in the work and I don't think that he meant it like that. I think he meant like be in the work, right? Be in the work. Be in what you're doing. Work hard. Work strategically. Work smart.

[00:58:25]Work intuitively. Have intention in what you're doing and prepare to go further.

[00:58:34]And as especially, you know, as artists and as collectors, use your intuition.

[00:58:39]Understand your intuition so you know the next moves that you make. And you know, anyway, we all want to go somewhere. So, that's all I got for you guys today. I'mma hop off.

[00:58:53]I'm going to hop off. I have another meeting starting here in just a few seconds. I love y'all and thank y'all for being here. Again, y'all join the Patreon if you haven't joined it yet.

[00:59:04]That's how these conversations keep going. These lives, these videos, um, conversations like the one with Derek and Dexter. There is a link on the screen if you scan that QR code. You don't have to meet weekly. If you're someone that just wants to support the channel and you wants to see you want to see it continue, you want to see it keep going. Be that person. Join for um $3 a month or you can pay it all at $28 a month. That does so much. If you're someone that you cannot do that, just like like, subscribe, and share. Okay?

[00:59:37]If you want to take it a step further, then join that Patreon. But if you're someone who can't do that, like, subscribe, and share. And I appreciate y'all to the absolute fullest for always, always, always being a glory gang. All right, I appreciate y'all. See y'all later, y'all. Stay real. Stay safe.

[00:59:55]Bring me some topics y'all want to talk about next time.

[01:00:00]Peace.