Rapper Q-Tip’s Personal Art Collection, Including Works by Richard Prince and Nina Chanel Abney, Will Go On View at Bonhams This Fall

Kamaal Ibn John Fareed, better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is best known as a member of the hip-hop collective A Tribe Called Quest. But these days he’s making headlines with his art collection, which he’ll be showing this fall in “Q-Tip: The Collection,” a non-selling exhibition at Bonhams in New York.

The exhibition, which coincides with Bonhams’s inaugural sale Contemporary: Art, Editions & Design sale, marks the first time Q-Tip’s entire collection will be on view to the public. (Many of the works, including Nina Chanel Abney’s Untitled (FUCKT*E*OP), have been on loan to traveling exhibitions, according to the auction house.)

The collection includes work by street artist Fab 5 Freddy, filmmaker Harmony Korine (who has said A Tribe Called Quest is one of his favorite bands), as well as artists Jeff Elrod, Torey Thornton, William Vilalongo, and Hebru Brantley. Also appearing in the show will be several works by Richard Prince, including an untitled 2015 canvas that served as the album cover for A Tribe Called Quest’s 2016 studio album, We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service, the long-awaited swan song for the group, who hadn’t released a collaborative album in 18 years.

The album cover for We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service (2016) by Richard Prince. Courtesy of Wikimedia.

“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to showcase and recognize some of the most talented artists that have inspired me personally and professionally,” Q-Tip said in a statement.

This isn’t the first time Q-Tip has ventured into the art world. In 2016 the Queens-born rapper and producer was named an artistic advisor at the The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, serving alongside Renee Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma.

“Q-Tip: The Collection” will be on display from September 20 through October 4, 2019 at Bonhams New York. 

Nina Chanel Abney, Untitled (FUCKT*E*OP) (2014). Courtesy of Q-Tip.

Richard Prince, Hightimes (2018). Courtesy of Q-Tip.