Due to popular demand, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago announces a one-week extension ofVirgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech,” the first-ever museum exhibition devoted to the work of Virgil Abloh, the genre-blending artist and designer who is redefining fashion, art, and design. Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech”and the accompanying pop-up shop “Church & State” will now be open through Sunday, Sept. 29, at the MCA and timed admission tickets are available online at www.mcachicago.org/abloh.
MCA Chief Curator Michael Darling says, “An exhibition like this in a major contemporary art museum is the next milestone in the evolution of Virgil’s practice. This show examines the choices Virgil has made, the media he works with, and the context of his artistic inspiration. His projects have unfurled with intention, precision, critique, historical awareness, cultural sensitivity, and rigor, and when taken out of the buzzy, frothy context of luxury fashion, celebrity mannequins, and hip hop one-upmanship, a very measured vision emerges.”
Set in an immersive space designed by Samir Bantal, a Director of AMO, the research studio of Rem Koolhaas’s renowned architecture firm OMA, the exhibition focuses on the creative process and collaborative work of Abloh, whose approach to fashion is equally inspired by contemporary art, his architectural training, and the style-conscious world of music.
An artist who is always in motion, Abloh uses the codes of fashion to deconstruct modes of dress in a playful, Duchampian style. His inspiration began with the street fashion in urban centers like Chicago, where looks emerge spontaneously and organically from trendsetting youth. Likewise, his work celebrates the ethos of streetwear culture, where high culture is appropriated, altered, and served up as something fresh and new. The MCA exhibition offers an in-depth look at the defining highlights of Abloh’s career with signature collections, video documentation of his most iconic shows, music highlights, and his distinctive collections of furniture, design, and graphic work.
Raised outside of Chicago by parents who emigrated from Ghana, Abloh trained in engineering and architecture, but from an early age cultivated an interest in music, fashion, and design. While pursuing a master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology, the artist connected with a then-emerging Kanye West, joining a fledgling creative team to work on album covers, concert designs, and merchandising. Abloh took the experience gained from working with West to his own stand-alone fashion brand Off-White™, which is designed in Milan, Italy, and presented at the seasonal shows of Paris fashion week alongside luminaries of the high fashion world. Most recently, Abloh’s profile expanded when he became the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear collection.
HOURS AND TICKETS
The MCA presents Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech” from June 10 to September 29, 2019. Timed admission tickets to view the exhibition are on sale online at www.mcachicago.org/abloh. These advance tickets are available for the regular admission price ($15). Admission for anyone 18 and under is free.
For the first time, the MCA will be open every Monday throughout the run of the exhibition from 10 am to 5 pm, in addition to regular museum hours: Tuesday and Friday 10 am – 9 pm; Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday: 10 am – 5 pm.
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