Drake Makes Most Of Sensitive Artist-Type Reputation With Sotheby’s Show

Aubrey Drake Graham may not be the first recording artist who comes to mind in the context of the visual arts. In terms of image-making, he may even fall short of his contemporaries, many of whom have developed meticulously curated personas and visual identities, from Kanye West's video collaborations with artists Nick Knight and Marco Brambilla to Pharrell's high-profile creative partnership with Takashi Murakami.

Nevertheless, the Canadian crooner has been tapped by Sotheby's to curate the audio component of their I Like It Like This exhibition, a show that explores the dialogue between music and black American art.

"We approached Drake early on and he was beyond thrilled," said Jacqueline Wachter, director of Sotheby's Sl2 gallery, at a press preview for the show. "It was a very exciting moment for us because we were so honored to have his involvement...this [music] is his interpretation of these pieces."

Works by artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nick Cave, Rashid Johnson, Glenn Ligon, Kara Walker, and Kehinde Wiley will be on view, accompanied by Drake's song selections, played on Beats By Dre sound stations scattered throughout the gallery.

Does this mean we'll be seeing a flood of newly collected pieces in Champagne Papi's IG account? Only time will tell. Until then, click through to see (and hear) the fruits of this collaboration.