Amar’e Stoudemire’s front-row appearance at Fashion Week runway shows is well-known, as is his fashion-forward designer-studded street style. So it’s not all that surprising that Stoudemire has also taken up art collection as one of his newest passions. And just like everything else this Miami Heat Forward puts his heart into, he does it very, very well.
His personal collection—called the Melech (meaning King in Hebrew) Collection—includes a Basquiat, Warhol, Retna, and Rob Pruitt, the latter two being cutting-edge artists with a bit of a street style. While Stoudemire plans to keep his personal collection in the family, he also wants to get his fellow sports stars in on the art game.
“We’re going to educate the rest of the sports world how important it is to collect art, and how important it is to connect with emerging artists who are going to be great, but no one knows they’re going to be great yet,” Stoudemire told Bloomberg News.
Late in 2015, thanks to word from Bloomberg Business, the 33-year-old made a splash at Art Basel Miami Beach, where he co-hosted a dinner for Bloomberg Pursuits with contemporary artist Jen Stark.
He caught a lot of attention soaking up the art, attending numerous fairs at the world-famous art festival, got a spontaneous portrait done by artist Taylor McKimens, and according to Esquire, bought a painting by Hebru Brantley from the “No Commission” art fair.
Keep it looking good, Stoudemire.
