KAWS
Kaws (real name Brian Donnelly) is a New York artist born in Jersey City in 1974. A product of the graffiti scene, he combines references to pop culture icons (The Simpsons, The Smurfs, SpongeBob SquarePants), the frontal energy of urban painters (cross-eyes, pirate skulls) and the large-scale production methods typical of pop art. His iconic characters (Chum, Accomplice, Companion) are available as toys, T-shirts, silkscreens and original works.
Brian Donnelly graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 1996. He spent some time working for Disney, in particular on 101 Dalmatians. His time with the venerable company was decisive: Mickey's body will be featured on the Companions, as well as the typical Disney hands on several characters. As for his pictorial style, with its very precise lines and solid colors, it clearly recalls Disney's style, or at least the world of animation.
Kaws began his career by graffitiing his name in giant letters on New York walls and posters. He sometimes added a drawing that became his signature: the skully, a pirate's skull with crossbones shortened to form ears. Kaws went on to distinguish himself from the many New York graffiti artists by hijacking advertising posters. Legend has it that it was another graffiti artist, Barry McGee, who gave him a key to open the bus shelter billboards. Kaws then recovers the posters (Calvin Klein, DKNY, Diesel, etc.), covers the faces with skulls, signs them, then discreetly puts them back in place. He also develops another character: the bendy, a skull extended by the body of a snake (or spermatozoon?), which wraps itself around the poster's central figure. What we have here is a veritable visual kidnapping in which the artist phagocytizes the icons of consumer society.
In Tokyo, Kaws publishes his first designer toy, a smaller version of a sculpture. The Companion has a Mickey body, topped with a pirate skull and x-ray eyes. The sculpture was an immediate success with collectors. He then published Chum: the same skull, this time perched on a body reminiscent of Michelin's Bibendum. Still in Tokyo, he met Nigo, creator of the A Bathing Ape brand. Nigo allowed him to design the packaging for the Product paintings. The first series of paintings, all 40 × 40 cm, hijacked the imagery of the Simpsons (now the Kimpsons). The second series paints the characters Chum, Accomplice and heroes inspired by Astroboy and Hello Kitty in bright colors on a black background. Each painting is presented in plastic packaging, as if it were destined to be sold in a supermarket. With these two series, Kaws is deeply committed to the pop art approach. This radical work, fundamental to his career, is brought together in the book C10, which includes the packaging of the works.
At the same time, Nigo helped him open Original Fake, a store inspired by Keith Haring's Pop Shop. Kaws will then offer his characters and drawings in the form of T-shirts, sneakers, scarves and more. His art toys are also sold on the site. Kaws always produces in very limited series, and each item quickly sells out. The figurines, generally produced in batches of 500, are sold out in a matter of hours. Kaws has also collaborated with brands such as A Bathing Ape, Comme Des Garçons, Marc Jacobs, Vans and Nike, and was featured on the cover of rapper Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak album. From 2008 onwards, Kaws seems to have been caught up in a productivist frenzy, using his symbols on objects as futile as key-rings, ashtrays and bath mats!
Winner of the Prix Pernod in 1998, Kaws has exhibited at Parco Gallery in Tokyo and Elms Lester in London in 2001, in Vancouver in 2002, and in the traveling group show Beautiful Losers in 2004. A close friend of Nigo and Pharrell Williams, who introduced him to Emmanuel Perrotin, gallery owner of Takashi Murakami and the whole Kaikai-Kiki gang, Kaws presented Saturated in Miami in September 2008, an exhibition in which the figures of SpongeBob SquarePants (renamed Kawsbob) were depicted on large-format canvases. All the works in the show sold out on the first day, as did those presented at Gering & Lopez Gallery in New York in November 2008. The exhibition The Long Way Home was presented at Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles in February 2009. His work is inspired by Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami.
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Kaws' world is populated by recurring characters. Inspired by icons of popular culture, they are at once familiar and strange, even disturbing. Originally existing as sketches or drawings, these characters have been brought to life in 3 dimensions by the manufacturer Medicom. Produced in limited editions (usually 500), these designer toys or art toys are considered true sculptures. It's also worth noting that Kaws has always paid great attention to packaging. The figurines, which today trade for up to ten or twenty times their original price, lose much of their value if sold without their box.