The power of Virgil

READ OUR FULL OBITUARY

Virgil was omnipotent in our cultural space, whether that be through his own ever-expanding portfolio of projects, his extensive circle of collaborators — many of whose careers he launched — the numerous multinational corporations he breathed life into with the stroke of his Sharpie, the thousands upon thousands of creative operators who have been inspired by his prodigiousness, or even the many who either envied or discredited him.

Of the myriad of talents Virgil had, the most important was his ability to connect the dots, crisscrossing ideas through the ether of our universe with a ceaseless procession of project after project with collaborator after collaborator. He was the human incarnation of Wi-Fi: less a singular artist and more a frequency that an entire wave of people and ideas operated on.

He worked harder, more passionately, and with more focus than practically any human being is capable of mustering. 90 hour weeks were the norm for him, yet it was never done in a way that felt like dark workaholism. It was like a non-stop process of self-actualization.

One of the most powerful things was the way in which his work truly broke barriers — not just for himself but for others. He did not just want to merely accomplish things, but rather he wanted to accomplish things in a way that made the instruction manual for how he got there freely accessible to others. This was what made his successes so powerful.

The many who were inspired by Virgil's accomplishments weren’t just inspired by what he did, but by the fact that he made something totally new — and seemingly impossible — possible for everyone.

In an era where the consumer is king and content in power, Virgil wrote the book on how to create potent ideas and make them effective in our digital landscape. His massive thumbprint on creative direction, branding, and advertising over the past decade is akin to how we automatically think of Salvador Dali when we hear "Surrealism," or Elvis Presley when we hear "Rock n Roll."

Virgil created a world that empowers the autodidacts, the remixers, the graffitists, the skaters, and the other rule breakers who were once on the outside looking in on the culture industry. Most of all, Virgil Abloh created a world where anyone with an iPhone can become the next Andy Warhol, the next Arthur Jafa, the next Rem Koolhaas, the next Barbara Kruger, or the next Virgil Abloh.

And now that we’re the ones living in this world, we owe it to ourselves to do him justice.