We went to the opening of the Virgil Abloh exhibition in Chicago

Virgil Abloh is without a doubt one of the most influential creatives of our time.

Virgil's creation sparks opposite opinions, among who considers him a genius and who thinks he hasn't done anything particularly original or unique. What differentiates him from all the other designers, artists and DJs is the transversality of his figure: Abloh is not only the founder and creative director of Off-White, and more important of Louis Vuitton, but he's also an architect, DJ, designer and artist.

The Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, Abloh's hometown, dedicates now a retrospective focused on Virgil's career, entitled Figures of Speech, and curated by Samir Bantal, director AMO, the studio of archistar Rem Koolhaas. The exhibition looks into the relationships and the bonds that exist between the different areas and disciplines Abloh has worked on. There's, therefore, the relationship with the world of art, in particular with the work of De Chirico, Caravaggio, Fontana, with architecture, Abloh has a degree in this specific subject, and also with music, not only as a DJ but also as a close collaborator of Kanye West, with whom he has shaped an aesthetic and an imagination that were missing both in the music and in the fashion industry.

In large part, “Figures of Speech” is an art exhibition rooted in advertising and “the projected image”.⁣⁣ Anytime an idea hits a particular surface; a photo print, a screen, a billboard or canvas, it seems like fact. This exhibition demonstrates myself wrestling with this concept within the freedom of mediums while finding personal solutions.⁣⁣ [...] This is an intersection where the tourists and purists cross paths. The atmosphere is literal and figurative. Virgil Abloh

Because of his multidisciplinary career, the retrospective gathers objects and pieces of art also very different and that apparently have nothing to do with one another. There are prints and paintings depict the latest Louis Vuitton campaigns, real installations, furniture and objects designed with IKEA, console and mixers made with Pioneer DJ, a never seen before Supreme box logo tee, and of course lots of clothes, from his first brand Pyrex, to the newest collections of Louis Vuitton and Off-White. So far what has drawn the most attention has been the room that gathers all the sneakers made in collaboration with Nike, many of which are still unreleased and never seen before.