From the Court to the Auction Room: The NBA Figures Behind Tomorrow Night's Most Anticipated Art Event in Chicago

Swain's inaugural live auction brings together museum-collected artists, three works already sold, and a wine sponsor with a parallel story: McCollum Heritage 91, built by NBA All-Star CJ McCollum on 318 Oregon acres as a generational legacy. Swain's co-founder David Vanterpool, NBA assistant coach, is building one too—just in a different market.

CHICAGO, April 9, 2026 — Tomorrow evening at City Views Elevated Lounge in River North, a curated gathering of collectors, artists, and cultural leaders will become the first ever to bid at a live Swain’s auction. The wines poured will come from McCollum Heritage 91—the Willamette Valley estate CJ McCollum and his wife Elise built from a 318-acre property in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, producing Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays rooted in the same conviction that drives the sale: that Black ownership, built with intention and held for the long term, is its own form of legacy.

That conviction is structural at Swain’s. Co-founder David Vanterpool—NBA assistant coach and one of three founders behind the platform—brings to Swain’s the same understanding CJ McCollum brings to Oregon wine country: that excellence built in one arena compounds when it moves into another. On the court, in the Willamette Valley, and now in the auction room, the thesis is the same. Culture is capital.

“Every artist in this sale was chosen because their work is already being collected at the institutional level—and because Swain’s exists to make sure the market reflects that.”

— David Vanterpool, Partner, Swain’s

Three works sold before the auction opened. N’ia Morrison’s Inherited Crown and Tailored Legacy—mixed media on canvas by the Atlanta-based artist making her public debut—were acquired ahead of the event. Ashley Nora’s Of Heaven, Still, oil on quilted fabric and the 2026 BUTTER LA Best of Show winner, also sold pre-auction. Morrison’s ten-part debut series, Laughter in Full Bloom—honoring Bessie Coleman, Langston Hughes, Katherine Johnson, and Bass Reeves, each rendered as a young person before the world recognized what was standing in front of it—makes its full public debut tomorrow. The series has been acquired by Swain’s ahead of its introduction.

The sale’s contemporary roster spans GRAMMY Award–winning Chicago-born artist Zeph Farmby; Brooklyn-based public artist Sophia Victor, commissioned by Amnesty International; DC-based painter Jabari Jefferson, whose work is held at Mount Holyoke College Art Museum; and Lex Marie, recipient of the 2023 Washington Studio Award. Act III features the first documented collaboration between Blu Murphy and Ashley Nora and two works by Charles Philippe Jean Pierre, a U.S. State Department Art in Embassies artist with works in American embassies in Benin, Malawi, and Niger.

The sale closes with four marquee names: Guy Stanley Philoche’s new canvas Selfie (2026); Black Woman University (2020) by Genesis Tramaine, whose solo exhibitions with Almine Rech span London, Brussels, and New York; Down, Down Baby (2025), a Printer’s Proof 1 of 1 by Bisa Butler of the Art Institute of Chicago collection, and Sandman (2025) by Danielle McKinney, represented by Marianne Boesky Gallery and collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Friday, April 10. Doors: 4:00 PM Central. Live Auction: 5:00 PM Central. City Views Elevated Lounge, 306 W. Erie Street, Suite 600, River North, Chicago. Online bidding at swainsauction.com.

ABOUT SWAIN’S

Swain's is the first AI-powered fine art auction house built for Black and African diaspora artists. Founded by Ian Swain, Swain's brings together live auction sales, AI-powered collector tools, and proprietary reparative pricing analytics to give collectors the institutional-grade intelligence this market has never had. Culture is Capital. swainsauction.com

ABOUT MCCOLLUM HERITAGE 91

McCollum Heritage 91 is the Oregon wine label founded by NBA All-Star CJ McCollum and his wife Elise on their 318-acre estate in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA of the Willamette Valley. Producing Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays in collaboration with Adelsheim Vineyard, the winery is LIVE Certified and Salmon-Safe. Passion Rooted in Legacy. @heritage91wines | mccollumheritage91.com

PRESS CONTACT

Hannah Litman | Wink Communications | hannah@wink-communications.com

swainsauction.com | swainsauction.com

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