Sky Gellatly

Virgil Abloh is still with us. The power, intention, optimism, and empathy that came from his soul is still here—refracting, echoing, smiling, and manifesting itself in many glimmering forms. His dedicated practice of always uplifting the next generation, while simultaneously, and in some mercurial way, celebrating the previous, is one of the most-magical balancing acts that the world has ever seen. Today, we still wade in the wake of his gestural waves, one such current being this very project that shares love and admiration for several of our artistic superheroes: Lady Pink, Lee Quinones, and Rammellzee.

In 2021, when Virgil asked me to curate “White Canvas” with him, I was humbled. That he’d want me to function as a “curator” for something with him—especially for a project with Louis Vuitton—was somewhat unreal. “But Virgil is already the ultimate curator” I thought “why would he need me?" But of course, in typical Virgil fashion, V made me feel seen, accredited, and encouraged—and away we went.

I am so proud that this exhibition is able to come to life in 2023 because it serves as a mirror into Virgil’s heart, where his admiration for artists like Lady Pink, Rammellzee, Lee Quinones and the entire school of Graffiti lived.

Virgil and I were friends, thanks to Lupe Fiasco, for roughly fifteen years. Over that flight of time, in between DJ sets, laughs, and text messages, we discussed how Dondi White and Futura 2000 were “Picasso-level” to him. How the book Subway Art changed his life. How JEST authored codex for the now. How HAZE’s hand styles wowed us to no end. Virgil’s ascension into the capital “A” art world in recent years always brought the genre of Graffiti with him: the worldview of disruption, adaptation, courage, and hiding in plain sight—with style. This project serves as an additional salutation from my generation’s kindest of kings.

✨Link in my bio to an amazing feature from @wwd by @sandrasalibian ☮️✨

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