KAWS

Published with Palazzo Strozzi.

This special publication documents a site-specific installation created by American artist KAWS (born 1974) for the Renaissance courtyard of the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence. The installation stages a surprising and constructive dialogue between the contemporary giant—famed for his cartoon- and graffiti-inspired sculptures, paintings and collectible toys—and the Strozzi's concurrent exhibition on Italian Renaissance–era painter Fra Angelico. Reworking the theme of the Annunciation—the subject of Fra Angelico's most celebrated painting—through a monumental installation, KAWS offers an unprecedented encounter between eras, forms and visions, bridging traditional iconography from Western visual culture with the immediacy and hyper-connection of contemporary life. In his work, aptly titled The Message, the mobile phone figures as the central element of the scene. KAWS imbues this object of prolific daily use with a sacred quality, likening it to the miraculous message delivered by angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.

Published with Art Gallery of Ontario.

American artist KAWS is one of the most famous living contemporary artists today. Renowned for his iconic visual language and larger-than-life sculptures, the artist draws on beloved pop culture icons to create a new and recognizable cast of characters of his own. The broad appeal of KAWS’ style has made his artwork accessible to collectors, museum visitors and the general public alike, and has led to collaborations with coveted global brands and immense commercial success.
KAWS: FAMILY, organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, marks the artist’s Canadian institutional exhibition debut with an array of his drawings, paintings, sculptures and selected products. The catalog features over 60 works from the past two decades, including installation photography; essays by Julian Cox, AGO Deputy Director and Chief Curator; and an interview with KAWS by Jim Shedden, AGO Curator of Special Projects and Director of Publishing. Together, this material provides new insights into KAWS’ influences and creative process as well as the impact his work has made across the spheres of fine art, pop culture, product design and fashion.
A graffiti artist since adolescence, Brian Donnelly (born 1974), known professionally by his moniker KAWS, received his BFA in illustration from New York’s School of Visual Arts in 1996. He has collaborated with brands such as Supreme, Nike and Comme des Garcons, and his work can be found in the collections of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. KAWS lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Few artists have managed to bridge the gap between high and low culture as seamlessly as KAWS has since his career took off in the 1990s: his iconic cartoon-inspired designs have graced fashion collections, vinyl figurines, and skateboards as well as canvases sold for millions of dollars. Frequently portraying familiar figures such as Mickey Mouse and Spongebob Squarepants with cauliflower ears and X’ed-out eyes, KAWS employs a sophisticated dark humor throughout his work, exploring the relationship between art and consumerism.

This publication documents the artist’s first exhibit in the Middle East, with more than 40 key pieces in sculpture and painting from the last two decades. The exhibit in Doha, Qatar, and its accompanying catalog also feature a number of KAWS’ commercial collaborations alongside his 5-meter-tall sculpture Companion (Passing Through) and his inflatable 40-meter-tall piece Holiday. Bound in cloth, this volume is a gorgeous collection of KAWS’ most exciting work.

Brian Donnelly (born 1974), known professionally by his graffiti tag KAWS, is the mastermind behind one of today’s most recognizable artistic brands. A graffiti artist since adolescence, Donnelly received his BFA in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in 1996. He then worked as a background artist for animated TV programs before becoming an independent designer. He has worked with artists like Kanye West and collaborated with brands such as Supreme, Nike and Comme des Garçons. He is currently represented by Skarstedt Gallery in New York.

Appropriating characters, images and effects from pop culture, the work of KAWS blurs the lines between high and low art, and between art and fashion. Deploying film and television favorites for his toys, large-scale sculpture and bold, nearly abstract painting, KAWS recasts the familiar colors and forms of popular entertainment in cheeky and often poignantly human terms. Influenced by Andy Warhol and other Pop artists, hard-edge abstract painting and graffiti, KAWS’ work deftly straddles consumer culture and artistic innovation, and his distinctive style is as much at home in his toys as in his monumental sculpture.

KAWS: Where the End Starts explores the artist’s prolific career in depth, featuring key paintings, sculptures, drawings, toys, and fashion and advertising designs. This extensive monograph, including contributions from Andrea Karnes, Michael Auping, Dieter Buchhart and Pharrell Williams, reveals critical aspects of KAWS’ formal and conceptual development over the past 20 years, as his career has shifted from graffiti to fine art and collaborations with designers and brands such as Comme des Garçons, SUPREME, Nigo (A Bathing Ape) and Nike.

Published in a hardcover edition with more than 150 color reproductions by the Museum of Modern Art, Fort Worth in conjunction with the major 2016 Fall exhibition on KAWS.

Brooklyn-based KAWS (born in 1974) is widely considered one of the most relevant artists of his generation. Within the Pop art tradition, he has created a prolific body of influential work, which both engages young people with contemporary art and straddles the worlds of art and design to include both product and graphic design, paintings, murals and sculpture.

Marla Price is Director of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Michael Auping is Chief Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, and the author of books on abstract expressionism, Clyfford Still, and Arshile Gorky.