NORTH KENWOOD — Patric McCoy was born into art.
McCoy’s father was a painter, and his mother was a seamstress who designed her own clothes. She delivered him at home in 1946, in the same room where the family hung “Masturbation,” a 1941 painting by his father, Thomas McCoy.
“So I was born into this painting,” Patric McCoy said. “It’s one of the first things that I more than likely saw in my life.”
“Masturbation,” painted by the elder McCoy six years after finishing high school, features the silhouette of a woman posing against a dark backdrop. Patric McCoy talked his father into giving him the painting in 1983. “Masturbation” now hangs on the wall in McCoy’s bedroom — one of more than 1,300 pieces of art on display in his North Kenwood home.
McCoy, an art collector, photographer and retired environmental chemist, has been acquiring artwork — mostly by Chicagoans, many of whom are Black artists — for more than five decades. He’s also co-founder of Diasporal Rhythms, a 20-year-old nonprofit dedicated to collecting, promoting and preserving art from the African Diaspora.
McCoy’s condo is bursting with colors, and every inch of every wall is covered with art. Even the ceilings are fair game, home to pieces like a mural McCoy commissioned of his family or a 120-year-old bicycle he bought from a friend. And like his father’s painting, most pieces have backstories.
The art brings McCoy joy, but he also collects to uplift artists in Chicago, whose creative scene can be overlooked compared to cities like New York, he said. McCoy is passionate about making his collection available to visitors and wants to spread the word about local talented artists, he said.
“This is how we make ourselves important,” McCoy said. “The trick is you have to have as many people come and see and talk about it.”
The Method To The Madness
McCoy bought his first piece in 1968 while studying chemistry at the University of Chicago. His roommate, an art major, had come home from class with a piece he created that piqued McCoy’s interest.
“He tells me it’s a lithograph, and I start processing it in my scientific mind,” McCoy said. “‘Litho’ means ‘stone’ and ‘graph’ means ‘to write,’ so I started asking him to explain the process.”
McCoy asked his roommate if it was for sale, and they negotiated the price to $10 — equivalent to the buying power of about $90 today.
“It became my very first piece, and I’ve had it with me everywhere, always near the front door,” McCoy said.
The lithograph was named “the Seventh Angel of Revelation,” which is the last thing before Armageddon under Christian philosophy.
“So the irony is the very first thing I bought was the last thing,” McCoy said.
From there, McCoy continued buying art that spoke to him, whether it was because he related to its themes or simply liked its colors, he said.
It wasn’t until around 2000 that McCoy realized he was an art collector and anyone could be one regardless of their wealth. That’s when he began connecting with other collectors and co-founded Diasporal Rhythms in 2003 to focus on uplifting artists from the African Diaspora.
“There’s this assumption that art is very expensive when factually, it is very reasonable,” McCoy said. “And it’s especially reasonable in Chicago. We have some of the most affordable art across the country.”
McCoy’s home collection has an order to it. But the method to the madness didn’t form until he moved to his condo from South Shore 23 years ago, he said.
“It was a horrible process that made me commit that I am never moving again,” McCoy said. “I had maybe a third of what I have today, and I laid it all out in my bedroom and organized from there.”
The pieces are often organized by themes, color palettes and other motifs.
Pieces emphasizing gazing eyes are grouped near the entrance — inspired by McCoy’s trip to Athens, where he learned about the Greek concept of the “evil eye,” a charm many people hang outside their front doors for protection.
Art relating to music and dance are arranged where McCoy first set up his stereo. And pieces pertaining to sensuality, like “Masturbation,” line his bedroom walls.
One bathroom is inspired by florals, while another has images of hands and faces, referencing his mother’s frequent reminders to wash his hands and face.
“It’s a tribute to my mother and all the mothers in the world because they all say the same thing,” McCoy said. “Tourists, Korean women and Chinese people all tell me their mothers would say the same thing.”
A long hallway stretches to connect the various rooms in McCoy’s apartment. Its two walls have mini-galleries of their own.
A painting of Bayard Rustin by Jason Paterson is put into conversation with one of Malcolm X by Dalton Brown, calling back to their 1960 debate on TV.
Another section, nicknamed “Sports, Celebrities, Stupidity,” features artwork depicting the 1996 Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield fight (by artist Julian Williams). O.J. Simpson is featured with a piece by Jason Patterson and another by Kevin Lee. The wall also includes a collage of Bulls players created by McCoy.
“I have always been perplexed by how every society, no matter where we’re at on the planet, we elevate people who can run with a ball, kick a ball, hit a ball or beat each other up,” McCoy said. “We give them all the resources, and most of the time they are total jerks.”
In McCoy’s living room is a large painted portrait of the collector by artist Mary Qian. McCoy commissioned Qian to paint him at the Wooded Island of Jackson Park with the Museum of Science and Industry in the background, he said.
McCoy chose the location because it had environmental significance, tying into his work at the Environmental Protection Agency, he said. But the museum, which dates back to the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, has a deeper meaning to him.
“It was originally the fine arts building in the fair, but it’s since been repurposed to housing science and industry,” McCoy said. “So it started with fine arts and went to science, while my career wove from science to fine arts.”
McCoy knows most of the artists in his collection personally, and his own art is also on display.
McCoy got his first 35-millimeter camera in 1981 and learned to take pictures by vowing to carry his gear with him everywhere and never turn down a person’s request to have their photo taken, he said. He captured everyday life of people on the South Side.
A collection of photos depicting the crowd at a now-defunct gay bar that attracted everyone from Downtown professionals to drag queens was taken down from display near one of his bathrooms last year for a show at the Wrightwood 659 gallery in Lincoln Park. More of his photos depicting the lives of Black people during Harold Washington-era Chicago were recently taken down for a gallery at the Lyric Opera. “concrete, rose.,” which coincided with the opera’s run of “Champion.” The gallery will return March 9-April 7 during the run of the upcoming production “Aida.”
It’s not uncommon for McCoy to take pieces down for them to be displayed in galleries, he said. He simply rearranges or finds more art to fill the space — just like when he buys a new piece.
‘Origins And Oranges’
McCoy’s collection also tells the story of his family life.
One room, named “the Problems of Black Men in America and the Solutions,” is divided into two sections depicting either side of the theme. A light fixture is based on a deacon symbol from West Africa that means “everything except for God,” McCoy said.
One of the recent pieces, ”Waiting for a Job,” is a painting by McCoy’s father when he was a student in Cass Technical High School in Detroit.
Thomas McCoy graduated in 1935 and received a scholarship to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, only to have the offer revoked after the school realized he was Black, Patric McCoy said.
Thomas McCoy included the painting, a somewhat abstract piece which features three figures sitting outside on crates, in his portfolio while applying for the school but never got it back, Patric McCoy said.
“No apology, no compensation, nothing,” Patric McCoy said. “And I can see now when I look back on it that it was part of the reason he was such a frustrated painter, difficult to be around and morose. It’s because he had been cheated.”
Patric McCoy only learned of his father’s painting a few years ago when someone from the college reached out to let him know they still had his father’s artwork.
“When I look at the quality, expertise and the technical expression in this, it’s amazing that he did this,” McCoy said. “But then I think about what we lost. With some training — if this is what he was doing in high school — what would he have gone on to do?”
Another room — about the size of the apartment McCoy grew up in — takes on a theme of “Origins and Oranges,” nodding to his family roots and favorite color.
The room features three works by Thomas McCoy, including a painting based on a photograph of McCoy’s mother wearing a dress she designed. Another piece, created in 1974 during the atomic war scare and titled “the Nuclear Family,” portrays a young Patric McCoy, his older brother and parents juxtaposed over an atomic energy symbol.
“This room calls back to when we were stuck in this little bitty apartment filled with art, photographs and books,” McCoy said. “It’s about the beginning.”
A Collection That Can ‘Live On, Open To The Public Forever’
McCoy has an open-door policy when it comes to showing his home collection that aligns with his views on making art more accessible to admirers. Anyone from tourists to students can reach out and set up a time to visit.
He also hosts regular Sunday brunches for friends, colleagues and acquaintances to talk about art — or anything but.
“There shouldn’t be any barriers to art,” McCoy said. “I don’t believe in a separation between the art maker and the art appreciator, so I like to bring them together.”
Julian Williams, who created the piece about the Tyson vs. Holyfield fight, has known McCoy for about 30 years and said his collection demonstrates the breadth of Chicago’s art scene.
“Patric has made me realize that first of all, you don’t have to be wealthy to be a collector,” Williams said. “But he’s also made me realize that we have so many great artists right under our nose here in Chicago.”
Williams, who teaches at the Hyde Park Art Center, takes his classes on field trips to McCoy’s home where they can learn about his collection for free.
“He tells them why he has this collection, when he started and stories about the artworks,” Williams said. “You can’t get a hands-on education like that anywhere. And we have it up close, personal and for free — although I usually slip him some cash after bringing all those kids in there.”
McCoy said he’s passionate about ensuring Chicago artwork is celebrated and preserved locally. The city has let go of some major collections in the past, such as the Johnson Publishing collection, which was sold in 2019.
The desire to uplift Chicago artists is partially why McCoy co-founded Diasporal Rhythms, he said.
The organization is celebrating 20 years with an exhibition at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall. “Perspective” runs through Feb. 29 and features dozens of works created and collected by Black artists, including a handful of pieces from McCoy’s collection.
Williams called McCoy a “living institution” who has broken barriers between children, especially those of marginalized communities, and the art world.
“A lot of kids, especially a lot of Black families, look at a place like the Art Institute as somewhere they can’t go because they can’t afford it,” Williams said. “But because of Patric, so many kids can access that and see themselves represented in art.”
McCoy’s home collection isn’t completely cataloged, but he has photographed more than 90 percent of the art and sent proposals out to fund an intern who would help with cataloging titles, artists, dimensions and other details, he said.
To ensure the collection lives on, McCoy is working on a trust that will give his artwork to Diasporal Rhythms, which plans to create a replica of his condo — and all its nooks and crannies — to display his artwork like he has it at home, McCoy said.
“I feel committed to making sure future generations will be able to see the amazing talent that was exhibited here in the neighborhoods, not just at the Art Institute or the MCA,” McCoy said. “I want somewhere my collection can live on, open to the public forever.”
Until then, McCoy’s home is open to visitors.
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