Bountiful BM

I took Thom to the Brooklyn Museum last year to see the Christian Dior exhibit; this year, the prematurely deceased Virgil Abloh took center stage.

 

Call me out of touch, but I didn't really get the clothes or the super spare presentation.

According to the "Figures of Speech" catalog (Abloh eschews explanatory text labels), this foam stepladder sculpture alludes to his improbable rise in the fashion industry.  Alrighty then.  I love the way it photographed against the raw plywood. 

Abloh's commitment to diversity is evidenced in this mannequin based on an actual model who walked the runway in "Dark Side of the Rainbow," his first fashion show for Louis Vuitton.

In a nod to post-mod cheekiness, "runway" also appears on many of the shoes displayed.

Fashion today seems more about branding than creativity, a fact that Abloh apparently recognized.  Printed on a black rug, my favorite item in the show, was this quote from friend and graffiti artist JIM JOE about Abloh's early Pyrex Vision clothing line:  "It's highly possible Pyrex simply bought a bunch of rugby flannels, slapped 'PYREX 23' on the back and re-sold them for an astonishing mark-up of about 700%!"

I thought about buying Joe a t-shirt from the built-in merch counter at the exit of the show (last chance! no re-entry permitted!) but when I learned the $70 price (you had to ask) I figured I had been adequately warned.

"DEATH TO THE LIVING, Long Live Trash," two floors up, was a lot more my speed.

Homeboy Duke Riley recycles beach trash into beautiful objects that comment on pollution and the destruction of ocean habitats.  These lures, painted with nail polish, were once tampon dispensers.  Riley actually used them to catch fish.

"Duke the Fisherman's High Quality Fluke Rigs Made in the USATM" (2022)

He's big on scrimshaw, too, but substitutes coated plastic objects for the whale teeth that artists once used for their engravings.

Look closely at his sailor's valentines (which I first saw exhibited in the National Shell Museum on Sanibel Island, severely damaged by Hurricane Ian) to see how utterly transformative his work can be.

"I'm Delicious, Come On Get Your Money's Worth" (2020)

Looking for a table runner made of straws or a chandelier fashioned from those tiny booze bottles?  Duke's your man!

The salty dog can draw, too.  His wise-guy sense of humor shines through in 2021's goofy and glorious "A Semi-Subjective Map of the Glorious Gowanus Canal from the Colonial to Post-Industrial Eras." 

On the other side of floor, Brooklyn Museum curators gave Nellie Mae Roe, a Georgia folk artist her first New York show in nearly two decades. 

"I Will See You Later Bird" (1982)

Employed as a domestic worker for 30 years, Nellie fulfilled her pent-up artistic dreams during a very productive retirement.

"Can I Help You Mom" (1982)

"Tall Girl" (1982)

Fan Dancer (1980)

When people dropped by her eycatching home alongside a highway, she shared her work with them.  "Really Free" re-creates the DIY museum, inside and out, with models.

Note the "March On Washington" LP.  Rowe was also a civil rights activist.

Fueled by a sunny optimism--and the early realization that she didn't want her mother's life raising ten kids--she overcame heavy odds including an utter lack of artistic training. 

"Voting" (before 1978)