Carmelo Anthony says he is working on building up his art collection — and spent $27,000 on a print of Muhammad Ali on Tuesday night. The Knicks star told us, “I am big into the art world. I am still learning, I’ve bought a lot of different artists. As far as collecting just one, I am trying to take my time and get some art I feel genuine towards.” He was seated with Tommy Hilfiger and Swizz Beatz at the Gordon Parks Foundation Awards dinner and auction at the Plaza Hotel. Anthony bought a gelatin silver print of famed photographer and filmmaker Parks’ work “Muhammad Ali in Training, Miami, Florida, 1966.” Honored at the packed gala were acclaimed artist and photographer Peter Beard, designer and philanthropist Donna Karan, and Swizz, who revealed he has been working with famed artist Damien Hirst at his studio in England. Swizz said, “We had a great experience at his studio. He’s a brilliant man, and he’s got a lot of brilliant stuff coming. I am happy to be his student. To say that I am a student of Damien Hirst is like, I can retire.” Other guests included Calvin Klein, who introduced Karan, Sofia Vergara and Nick Loeb, Karlie Kloss, who told us, “I am here for Donna,” Chuck Close, Lauren Hutton, Bernadette Peters, Olivier Theyskens, Diana Revson, Nejma Beard and Alex Soros. The highlight of the evening was an appearance by Joanne Thornton Wilson, who was the subject of Parks’ photo “Department Store, Mobile Alabama, 1956,” from his photo essay for Life magazine documenting segregation in the South. Wilson stands with her niece in front of a store underneath a sign that read “colored entrance.” “Gordon was from the North, so I had to tell him all the things we could do and the things we could not do,” Wilson said. “I felt his pictures would show the nation what it was like and would start to ring a change for us. I’m so proud of his work.”