This week, the Brooklyn Museum is opening “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech,” an exhibit focused on the work of the late designer. The exhibit was first featured at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2019, but the current show in New York includes new sculptural work and previously-unseen archival material.
The show includes items from Abloh’s two decades in fashion, music, architecture and art. Antwaun Sargent, an art critic and author of “The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion,” served as the exhibit’s curator, and Sargent said he wanted to highlight how Abloh’s work blended all different genres within the world of art.
Fashion pieces in the exhibit include tables of sneakers Abloh designed for Nike, and select garments from his fashion label, Off-White, like a Lycra gown he designed for Beyoncé. Ready-to-wear clothes Abloh designed while working as Louis Vuitton’s menswear artistic director lay flat on studio tables and hang off mannequins. On display are Louis Vuitton accessories like a monogrammed kite and a screen-printed handbag and hand-built speakers.
Sculptural work from Abloh include green foam mannequins from the Louis Vuitton Men’s Spring-Summer 2019 collection, as well as pieces from his furniture collections. The exhibit also showcases Abloh’s arsenal of collaborations, including designs for Ikea, Rimowa and Supreme. Framed on a wall is a cease-and-desist letter the United Nations sent Abloh in 2018 after he used its logo in his work.
Anchoring the exhibit is a life-size wooden “social sculpture” house that was designed by Abloh and represents a space for inclusivity of Black artists, who historically have been excluded from cultural institutions. Pieces from Abloh’s work with Black artists, including Kanye West and Shayne Oliver, also appear in the show and projected on a wall is footage of Abloh’s documentary about American track sprinter Sha’carri Richardson. The show’s exit features a mural of Abloh’s heroes, including Pharrell Williams and Michael Jordan, and important landmarks from Chicago, Abloh’s hometown.
The exhibit includes a gift shop, titled “Church and State,” selling merchandise Abloh designed for the museum in 2019. Representatives for the Brooklyn Museum said the gift shop is a part of the show, in a nod to Abloh’s knack for mixing art, design and commerce.
Abloh had been working closely with Sargent on the exhibit until he passed away from cancer in 2021.
The exhibit opens July 1 and will run through Jan. 29, 2023.
