The Late Virgil Abloh’s Contemporary Cultural Exhibition
One expression that has always irked me is “Only the good die young.” It is meant to comfort, to assuage the pain after the passing of a young but accomplished person. But too often it rings hollow.
Virgil Abloh was a highly creative, ambitious, intriguing artist and designer who died when he was only 41. How do we make sense of this? His output showed great creativity and modern innovation. He worked in fashion, painting, mixed media, and more. He was at times highly commercial as well as niche and underground. His themes and concerns included life as a male, as an African American, as a questioner of societal norms and typical goals.
And a rather poignant aspect of the exhibition Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech is that this was not intended to be a retrospective about his whole life; it was originally created as a mid-career look. It first showed in Chicago and then moved to Georgia, Boston and Qatar. But now that it has arrived in Brooklyn, it is a posthumous show. In fact, he lived quietly with his cancer diagnosis for about two years.
Virgil Abloh: More Than a Fashion Designer
Abloh is best known for his clothing; he began at Fendi, then the CEO at Off-White and was also an artistic director at Louis Vuitton. He designed luxury clothing as well as hip street fashions. But he was also trained as a civil engineer and an architect, worked as a DJ, painted and wrote and sculpted. He collaborated and befriended celebrities and artists ranging from Kanye West and Tyler the Creator, artists Takashi Murakami and Jenny Holzer, and many others.
He helped to develop this exhibition, and sadly he only was around to see how people reacted to it during its earlier incarnations. This posthumous Brooklyn edition has added emphasis on his relationship with New York City. Those who know this will realize that an exhibition that travels to more than one museum can end up looking different in different spaces.
The Brooklyn Museum has dedicated a significant amount of space on the First Floor to the Abloh exhibition (and as a long-time visitor of the Museum, I was surprised because the Fourth and Fifth Floors are the usual locations for high-profile shows). But perhaps this adds to the accessibility and profile of the show. (And a high-profile Jean-Michel Basquiat painting was shown on the First Floor as well, in 2018.)
The Brooklyn Museum has shown a number of significant exhibitions that are tied into the African-American experience: in 2021 it was one of the sites for the Obama Portraits. It held Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, in 2018. In 2014 it showed Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the 1960s and in 1990 it had Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940. In addition there are various portraits and other artworks at the Museum that are by African-American artists, such as Faith Ringgold. Thus the Brooklyn Museum is a particularly fitting space for the Abloh show.
Strolling through the exhibition, it almost seems as if a visitor is poking through Abloh’s studio or storage space. Some sections seem more like a traditional museum exhibition, with pieces displayed individually, but in other sections it seems like someone’s closet or clothing store, with racks of hanging clothing and tables displaying T-shirts and silk screens on wooden frames. (As someone who did T-shirt silk screening many years ago, this was a nostalgic touch to me.)
Standouts Pieces in the Exhibition
Among the pieces I most enjoyed studying at the Abloh exhibition were certain fashion pieces as well as fine artworks. One corner section toward the back of the exhibition entrance had on display two remarkable outfits: an all-white men’s outfit (#120) with a jacket, pants with a prominent belt, hat and wings. Designed for Louis Vuitton, this piece looked like it was custom-made for a niche comic book. I saw several young adults stopping by this particular piece, regarding it and snapping photos of it (and with it). Probably not a comfortable outfit to wear, nonetheless it caught the eye of visitors: was it the wings? The all-white? The intricate shadows it cast on the wall behind it?
A few yards away from the #120 was #107, a multi-colored cold weather outfit (also designed for Louis Vuitton) made up of a parka, jumper, wool pants, boots and a shoulder bag. Although this is considered men’s wear it has a fluid-gender feel and looks to be comfortable and practical. Honestly, I would enjoy wearing it. It served as a colorful contrast to the all-white outfit but was not nearly as dramatic. It didn’t seem to garner as much attention either, but honestly, if I could borrow that outfit, I would wear it proudly.
I also liked scrutinizing #13, the screen print frames. For those of us who have silk screened clothing or made prints, this is a familiar item. For those who haven’t it is also interesting, and a teachable moment: now you know what is involved in making mass-produced items that have designs placed upon them (tote bags, shirts, posters, etc.). These also resemble film photo negatives, which gives them a retro look. We are thus given a glimpse of the labor involved in Abloh’s fashion creations.
These pieces intrigued me for two main reasons, beauty and curiosity. The clothing was attractive and desirable, the particular artworks touched me with their curious touches and ability to be open to more than one interpretation. On a certain level they were just fun, but on another they sparked questions and even controversy.
Abloh’s Social Sculpture
As interesting as are all the individual pieces of clothes, sculpture and art, the literal centerpiece here is the Social Sculpture. This is a wooden building with porches with which visitors can interact. And while I visited, people sat and spoke with each other here, more than walking inside it. To me it resembles the wooden clubhouses you might see in Manhattan (in the East Village, for example) known as casitas.
The Social Sculpture is an example of Abloh “employing his skills as a trained architect” and a “house where designers, artists, architects, students, activists, and the community can come together and exchange ideas.” [This text is from the handout given at the exhibition.] It is a curious piece because it is located inside a museum, not outdoors. But it is inviting to people who want to sit and chat, or rest, or who want to take photos of themselves interacting with a piece of the exhibition.
Now to tackle the question of how these pieces of art and fashion are expressions of African American culture, and not just American culture, or consumer culture. Some background: Abloh was born and also died in Illinois. His parents were Ghanaian immigrants. He worked with many African American artists and musicians, but also with those who were of other races, such as Murakami. In 2020, the year before he died, he established the Post-Modern Scholarship Fund, and raised $1 million for it. He also began a fundraising program called “I Support Young Black Businesses” (which sold clothing) and he helped Chicago-based non-profits.
Among the exhibition pieces that most obviously express African-American themes and identity are #35, a quartet of statues which, although strictly one pale hue in color, have the facial features of African-Americans. A jacket, #29 has a design that reads “Wakanda Never,” a reference to the film “Black Panther.” And #103 is a pair of stereo speakers, with “Black Sound Design” stenciled on their sides. (In addition, one speaker is called “Ignorance” and the other “Knowledge.”)
These pieces in particular (as well as others) and the Social Sculpture do reflect his thoughts on African-American life. Are they also savvy marketing moves or deeper artistic statements (or both)?
Your experience of this retrospective will be even richer if you also head over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and see In America: A Lexicon of Fashion – The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org). There are two pieces designed by Abloh in this show, and they seem to stand as opposites in a very obvious way: one is a white dress (with some curious blue touches) and the other is a black dress. Both are lavishly detailed, quite formal. But the white skirt has a blue spray-painted graffiti tag. Abloh’s inclusion in this group show, which features pieces designed by several well-known designers such as Bill Blass, Halston, Lilly Pulitzer, and several others.
The fact that Abloh’s designs have made it to both the Brooklyn Museum and the world renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art shows how well regarded he was, and his death at 41 makes his absence even more painful. The Brooklyn Museum show is enjoyable and thought provoking, and not the typical “museum of art” type of display. Coupled with the two pieces at the Met, you can appreciate that Abloh’s work was a mixture of commercial and fine art, art with which you could interact as well as ponder.
Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” is on display through January 29, 2023 at the Brooklyn Museum.