Sean “Diddy” Combs has been dedicated to pushing his #BlackExcellence movement as of late and the very pricey act of generosity he’s just shown for one African American artist, solidifies that fact. Kerry James Marshall is a well known artist, but after Diddy recently dropped a whopping $21 MILLION for his art piece at an art auction, Marshall has now made history.
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How so? Because Diddy’s $21M bid made Marshall’s “Past Times” art piece (shown below) the most expensive piece sold by a living Black artist.
The highest price the “Past Times” piece had previously sold (to it’s prior owner) for was $25,000.
Via Chicago Tribune: When the work was offered for auction on Wednesday, the piece purchased for $25,000 had a maximum estimate of $12 million. The actual sale price stood the art world on its ear.
#Pasttimes pic.twitter.com/b957EOnbIT
— LouieBlaka.eth (@LouieBlaka) May 18, 2018
Prior to now, many in the art world were wondering who had paid so much money more for the art piece and apparently, Diddy never made it publicly known that he was the high ballin’ bidder. However, Marshall’s art dealer is the one who let the cat outta the bag days later:
Via Chicago Tribune: P. Diddy has been revealed as the buyer of Chicago artist Kerry James Marshall’s “Past Times,” the work that sold at auction this week for $21 million… Marshall’s New York dealer, Jack Shainman, told the New York Times that P. Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs, is the work’s buyer. “I know that this work has found a home in a collection with purpose and an eye toward preserving legacy — that of Sean Combs, and that means a lot,” Shainman said in the Times report.
Through his art, Kerry James Marshall aims to show African Americans in a powerful light, which is the basis of his “Past Times” piece as well. Marshall describes his art as, “Transcending, what is perceived to be the limitations of a race-conscious kind of work.”
Kerry James Marshall’s mission for his art, seems to be a perfect marriage with Diddy’s #BlackExcellence movement. Both contribute to celebrating the excellence of Black culture within a society that has far too long attempted to portray the opposite.
