The LIMITLESS VISION of VIRGIL ABLOH

With a REVAMPED RETROSPECTIVE set to arrive at New York's BROOKLYN MUSEUM, the late artist and designer's COLLABORATORS open up about WHY and HOW his WORK CONTINUES to LIVE ON

- ALISON S. COHN

EVERYTHING VIRGIL ABLOH DID-from his work designing for Off-White and as artistic director for menswear at Louis Vuitton to his forays into art, music, film, and design to his collaborations with brands like Nike and Ikea-seemed irrepressibly democratic and forward-moving. It's a concept central to the new Brooklyn Museum edition of the touring exhibition "Virgil Abloh: 'Figures of Speech," which opens on July 1.

"Figures of Speech," which debuted in Chicago in 2019 before travelling to Atlanta, Boston, and Doha, was originally conceived as a midcareer retrospective of Abloh's boundary-breaking oeuvre as an artist, designer, and creative polymath. But following his untimely death from a rare form of cancer last November at the age of just 41, it now functions as a celebration of the work of a prolific creator who succeeded not just by bringing his own visions to life but by sharing the blueprint for others to do the same for themselves. Curated by Antwaun Sargent, the Brooklyn Museum iteration will feature items and artifacts arranged on tables instead of walls and a new "social sculpture" for hosting talks a literal and figurative manifestation of the sense of community Abloh strove to cultivate, where everyone was welcomed in.

This is how Abloh worked too. Ideas came from dozens of lively, freewheeling WhatsApp group chats. It was a system that not only provided an alternative to the tedium of meetings and emails but also seemed to push everyone around him to a freer creative place where no time zone was a barrier and anyone with a good idea was in. Many of these chats are still going and ideas that have emerged from them continue to be realized: Both the Spring 2023 Louis Vuitton menswear and OffWhite collections will feature Abloh's work, and a make-up launch, films, and other projects are also in the pipeline.