MANIFESTO

#61

ART NOW

"FIGURES OF SPEECH"

2022.09.13

The Brooklyn Museum hosts until January 29, 2023 Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech”, a reminder that the art has no limit and live to infinity. 

The multidisciplinary work of late visionary artist and designer Virgil Abloh (Rockford, Illinois, 1980–2021, Chicago, Illinois) has reshaped how we understand the role of fashion, art, design, and music in contemporary culture. Virgil Abloh: “Figures of Speech,” developed by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, is the first museum exhibition devoted to Abloh’s work and spans two decades of his practice, including collaborations with artist Takashi Murakami, musician Kanye West, and architect Rem Koolhaas, among others; any kind of materials from his fashion label Off-White; and items designed for Maison Louis Vuitton. Newly added for the Brooklyn Museum’s presentation are never-before-seen objects from the artist’s archive, as well as a “social sculpture,” which draws upon Abloh’s background in architecture. The installation offers a space for gathering and performances, and is designed to counter the historical lack of freedom of expression afforded to Black artists and Black people in cultural institutions. “Figures of Speech” traces Abloh’s exploration of the communicative power of design. His use of language and quotation marks turns his designs, and the people who engage with them, into literal figures of speech. The artist uses the Black gaze to dismantle the traditionally white-crafted structures at work in fashion, design, architecture, and art, reconstructing new work through the lens of the Black cultural experience and typical elements of the street style, ambience where he grew up.

Above: “FUNCTIONAL ART,” 2021 Below: “PINK PANTHER,” 2019
T-shirt for Supreme c/o Virgil AblohTM, 2019

DESIGN

HARRY NURIEV

2022.10.05

Harry Nuriev in conversation with Paige Silveria. A point fo view with monochromatic schemes, a totally personal minimalism described in working with form, as the design transforms something from one form to another.

FROM THE MAGAZINE

CHLOE WISE

2022.10.04

Wise’s work explores advertising, fashion, multi national brands and the taboo, and, using humor, rethinks and analyses the role of female bodies within these systems, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.

BALENCIAGA EYEWEAR

FADE TO GREY

2022.09.29

Effortless and contemporary, the way these Muses are wearing Balenciaga Rive Gauche eyewear: a new cool and clean retro-style with a hint of vintage quality.