User:Ciroastarita/Virgil Abloh

Art[edit]
Abloh worked frequently with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. Abloh was given a solo art show in Murakami's Kaikai Kiki art gallery in Tokyo, Japan. Pieces of their artwork were showcased together at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and Murakami's shop Oz Zingaro in Tokyo. In 2018, Abloh and Murakami collaborated on a series of exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery's outposts in London, Paris, and Beverly Hills. In 2019, Abloh introduced the MCA speech campaign for the CTA's Red Line train wrap.

Abloh worked showcased an installation and billboard commission at the Spazio Maiocchi in Milan, Italy where he gave a speech on streetwear becoming "...the next global art movement”.  Abloh's first solo art exhibition occurred at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 2019. This show featured a large scale sculpture of Kanye West's Yeezus cover art and repeated photographs of Chief Keef wearing a Supreme t-shirt designed by Abloh . After Chicago, Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech traveled to the High Museum of Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, and Qatar Museums, as part of the Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture. The exhibition was intended to offer a mid-career retrospective of Abloh's endeavors in art, design and music. The Brooklyn Museum displayed Figures of Speech from July 1, 2022 – January 29, 2023. Brooklyn's edition of the exhibition spanned the two decades of the artist’s practice, including collaborations with artist Takashi Murakami, musician Kanye West, and architect Rem Koolhaas, among others; material from his fashion label Off-White; and items from Louis Vuitton, where he served as the first Black menswear artistic director. The installation also offered a space for gathering and performances, designed to counter the historical lack of space afforded to Black artists and Black people in cultural institutions.

Personal life and death
Abloh met his wife, Shannon Sundberg in high school, where he began dating her. After 10 years of dating, Abloh and Sundberg married in Chicago in 2009. Abloh lived in Chicago with his wife, Shannon, and their two children.

In 2019, Abloh was diagnosed with cardiac angiosarcoma, a type of cancer, though he kept the diagnosis private. He died on November 28, 2021, at the age of 41, in Chicago. With the family’s permission, LVMH paid tribute to Abloh at their planned November 30 spin-out fashion show in Miami, with a theme of "Virgil was here". Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, ASAP Rocky, Bella Hadid, Pharrell Williams, Tahar Rahim, Venus Williams, Joe Jonas, Ricky Martin, Jeremy Pope, 21 Savage, Joan Smalls, and Bernard Arnault attended the tribute. Louis Vuitton dedicated its window-displays worldwide, also using the dedication "Virgil was here".

Kanye West later lead a tribute to Abloh at his Sunday Service event with the song Easy On Me by Adele on November 28th, 2021

Abloh's funeral service took place on December 6, 2021, in Chicago, with Drake, Rihanna, West, Kardashian, Kid Cudi, Tyler, the Creator, ASAP Rocky, Frank Ocean, Vic Mensa, Lauryn Hill, Don C, and Jerry Lorenzo in attendance amongst his family and other close friends. .