A longtime entertainment-industry executive, Hassan Smith is also a passionate collector and a regular at exhibitions in his hometown of Atlanta, as well as in Los Angeles and beyond. In addition\u00a0to working as a manager for the singer John Legend, he serves on the advisory board for the Atlanta Art Fair. His personal collection includes works by many giants of Black post-war and contemporary art\u2014from Frank Bowling, Sam Gilliam, Gordon Parks and Richard Mayhew to Rashid Johnson, Hank Willis Thomas, Deborah Roberts and Patrick Eug\u00e8ne. Smith is a devotee of art history as well; he counts works by Pablo Picasso and Rembrandt in his collection. As he prepared for Frieze Los Angeles, Smith told The Art Newspaper<\/em> about his most recent acquisition, his favourite place to eat in town and his picks for the upcoming Oscars.<\/p>\n The Art Newspaper<\/em>: What are you looking forward to during\u00a0Frieze Los Angeles this\u00a0year?<\/strong><\/p>\n Hassan Smith:<\/strong> I\u2019m looking forward\u00a0to fellowshipping with fellow art enthusiasts and seeing ambitious work from galleries around the world. I\u2019m especially excited for the Collector X Dinner,\u00a0which always brings together some of the most thoughtful voices in the art and business community.<\/p>\n Where do you like to eat and drink near Santa Monica?<\/strong><\/p>\n One of my favourite dining experiences during Frieze Los Angeles is at Somerville, a Black-owned supper club that honours its South Central roots.<\/p>\n In the Form Of <\/em>(2023), by the Los Angeles-based artist Mario Joyce, is a recent addition to Smith\u2019s collection Walker Bankson<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n What was the first work you ever bought?<\/strong><\/p>\n The first substantial works I brought into my collection were photographs by Gordon Parks in 2010. That acquisition really shaped how I think about storytelling in art.<\/p>\n What was the most recent work you bought?<\/strong><\/p>\n The most recent work I acquired was a large-scale painting by Patrick\u00a0Eug\u00e8ne. He\u2019s an artist who\u00a0was recently selected by Dior\u00a0for the Lady Art bag collaboration, and his work is incredibly transcendent.<\/p>\n How quickly do you decide to buy a work of art?<\/strong><\/p>\n I tend to decide quickly. I rely heavily on instinct, supported by\u00a0conversations within my network, to guide me towards decisions that feel both intuitive and\u00a0informed.<\/p>\n Untitled <\/em>(2024) by Esther Mahlangu; in 2024, Smith co-curated an exhibition of the\u00a0South African artist\u2019s work at ZuCot Gallery in his hometown of Atlanta Walker Bankson<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n What do you regret not buying when you had the chance?<\/strong><\/p>\n I have a few regrets about not acquiring works earlier on! Particularly by Titus Kaphar, Amy Sherald and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye\u2014artists whose practices have only grown more resonant over time.<\/p>\n If you could have any work from any museum in the world, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n It would be a large-scale painting by Kerry James Marshall from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His work operates on both a monumental and deeply intimate level.<\/p>\n Who do you hope will win at the Oscars this year?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m rooting for Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler! I\u2019m excited to see their continued impact recognised on a global stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theartnewspaper.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A longtime entertainment-industry executive, Hassan Smith is also a passionate collector and a regular at exhibitions in his hometown of Atlanta, as well as in Los Angeles and beyond. In addition\u00a0to working as a manager for the singer John Legend, he serves on the advisory board for the Atlanta Art Fair. His personal collection includes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2303325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[347639,446264,446263,22693],"class_list":["post-2303324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-black-artists","tag-collectors-eye","tag-frieze-los-angeles-2026","tag-los-angeles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/\u2018I-rely-heavily-on-instinct-entertainment-mogul-Hassan-Smith-on-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2303324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2303324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2303324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2303326,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2303324\/revisions\/2303326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2303325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2303324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2303324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2303324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.sanity.io\/images\/cxgd3urn\/production\/973e2c76f4a436db36b2a7f77f74984ca07bf928-1238x929.jpg?w=1920&h=1441&q=85&fit=crop&auto=format\"\/)