Barack and Michelle Obama, Angela Bassett and Courtney Vance and Beyoncé and Jay-Z—these are just some of the high profile couples who have made public their obsession with art collecting. While a nod from influential collectors can send an artist’s portfolio soaring, Jumaane encourages first-time art buyers not to get too hung up on what’s considered hot in the mainstream

“It was like, how do I keep the legacy alive?” he says, reflecting on his decision from 20-some years ago. “So, I started slowly collecting art, and cultivating emerging artists and new collectors.”

“Defiant,” at N’Namdi Contemporary, encompasses 13 multi-layered works by Neha Vedapathak in which the artist offers a view into her innovative practice and recent explorations of space and landscape while inviting the viewer to delve deeper, literally and conceptually, into the works she has fabricated.

Patrick Quarm’s exhibition “Paradox: Surfaces of Self” at N’Namdi Contemporary Art’s new Little Haiti space presents nine new works by the artist focusing on cultural hybridity, identity construction and its fluidity, and the interconnectedness of past, present and future.