Studio Visit with Morgan Mandalay

Morgan Mandalay invited us to a studio visit in his beautiful apartment, where he also just launched the kitchen project Fresh Bread Gallery with his partner Kim-Anh Schreiber.

In Mandalay’s studio hung a series of in progress paintings of easel dimension, ignited with images of trees, fire, rain and flowers. Symbolism and its tradition in art history plays an important role in his practice, but he does not consider himself a painter. His work often comes off the wall, and is arranged like stage flats that provide a setting or atmosphere to the actions they encompass. Digging to the back of his closet he pulled out a bag of individual flowers made of cut pieces of canvas painted with bright colors, which were originally used as props in a performance piece. There’s an implication that these works function as a backdrop for human interaction when they become objects in space to dive into, arrange or move within, whether in physical or cognitive way.

Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (through September 22, 2019)

Figures of Speech is the first museum exhibition following the career and genre-bending work of Chicago native Virgil Abloh who exploits the points where architecture, design, fashion, fine art, and music intersect and deviate to create a more rounded and diverse perspective of contemporary culture and politics.

Abloh began studying architecture while simultaneously working on Kanye West’s creative team for branding and merchandise. He soon founded his stand-alone fashion brand Off-White™ in Milan, Italy, and in 2018 assumed the position of Men’s Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton.