Despite announcing his hiatus from fashion earlier this summer, it seems Virgil Abloh is back to business as usual. With the upcoming season fast approaching, last month the designer posted a photo of himself in the Louis Vuitton lifts in Paris, meaning it’s highly likely he’s set to make a return to fashion for AW20.
Fashion isn’t the only thing taking up the Abloh’s time, though, and if you thought he might be easing himself back into work you’d be wrong, given it has just been revealed he will debut an exhibition in Paris next year.
Announcing on social media that he has been signed with the international gallery Galerie kreo, his first exhibition with the institution will be titled “efflorescence”, and is set to centre around concrete blocks, focusing on the concept of paradoxes.
A utilitarian feature of any urban city, the designer will look at the graffiti which often decorates these blocks or the wildflowers which can sometimes grow between the accidental holes which form in them. The result will be an exhibition which explores the ways in which the rigidity of structures and urban planning meets the randomness of organic growth and human mark-making.
This show follows on from Abloh’s major retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, which took place earlier this summer. Titled Figures of Speech, the exhibition documented Abloh’s designs, from his work at Nike and Ikea, to his creations at Off-White.
“efflorescence” will take place from January 15 to April 10 at Galerie kreo.