Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech

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A curriculum which was formed from the notions of Bauhaus, that enabled Virgil Abloh to learn how to converge the fields of arts, craft, and design. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and set in an immersive space designed by Rem Koolhaas’s renowned architecture firm OMA*AMO, the exhibition will offer an in-depth look at defining highlights of Abloh’s career, including signature clothing collections, video documentation of iconic fashion shows, distinctive furniture and graphic design work, and collaborative projects with contemporary artists.

Near these tables is a model of Chicago – Abloh's hometown – with a proposed skyscraper based on Abloh's master's thesis in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2003. This collectible flip book “lookbook” features Virgil Abloh’s designs from his 2013 video showcasing his original brand, Pyrex Vision. In collaboration with Virgil Abloh, IKEA presents MARKERAD, a collection of contemporary items designed to make a statement in your first home. At the entrance to the exhibition are a few long tables, designed by Abloh, that display early sketches and works in architecture alongside fashion design prototypes and Abloh's forays into sound system design through his collaboration with consumer company Braun.The name of the show nods to Abloh’s use of language and quotation marks, but those heroes were his “figures of speech, too,” Sargent explains. Like these wildflowers that fit into the interstices and corners of urban space, the holes, formal accidents, and graffiti that cover and personalize— in different ways each time—the concrete surface offers a visual and emotional texture to recharge our immediate environment: a landscape where the rigidity of structures and urban planning meets the randomness of organic growth and human appropriation and mark-making. He’s hoping “Figures of Speech” will not only open up his work to a new audience of art purists, but also to a younger generation of kids who want to learn what’s possible outside of the violent headlines Chicago has become known for. Some of the most memorable additions to the exhibit include full looks from the recent Louis Vuitton seasons, as well as the Social Sculpture, a large wooden house in the center of the exhibit that Abloh imagined as a space for aspiring designers, artists, architects, and others to come together to collaborate and learn from more-established creatives. Nothing can replace travel,” Abloh tells a design teacher who asks for one piece of advice to relay to his students.

Because Figures of Speech was in the works for years, Sargent said: "It is, in fact, not at all in that way a memorial, right? Private collectionIn 2017, Nike enlisted Abloh to redesign ten of the company’s most famous shoe styles. That context and that analysis gives you the tools to understand things like pop culture, media, and fashion.

This catalog covers the last fifteen years of Virgil Abloh’s career, including an in-depth analysis of his work and inspiration.

Abloh politely says in the middle of the scrum, while at the same time sending a subtle cue for everyone to walk in and leave him alone. When an earlier version of this show ran at the Museum of Contemporary art in Chicago, Abloh’s hometown, the late designer said he hoped it would produce “at least seven more Virgil Ablohs in the future. The first section features essays and an interview that examine Abloh's oeuvre through the lenses of contemporary art history, architecture, streetwear, high fashion and race, to provide insight into a prolific and impactful career that cuts across mediums, connecting visual artists, musicians, graphic designers, fashion designers, major brands and architects.The sign around the entrance of the sculpture reads: “Abloh considered the sculpture a representation of Black space, a living monument that holds the potential, through the exchange of ideas, to inspire the creation of more Black space. In this case, the disjunction between the texts and the rugs’ appearance provokes viewers to question what they are seeing—and what it communicates. Anytime an idea hits a particular surface; a photo print, a screen, a billboard or canvas, it seems like fact.