Beschreibung:

KAWSProjector 2010 acrylic on canvas 153 x 152.8 cm (60 1/4 x 60 1/8 in.) Signed and dated 'KAWS 10' on the reverse.
Provenance Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles Private Collection, Italy Private Collection, London Exhibited Ridgefield, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, KAWS Solo Show, 27 June 2010 - 2 January 2011 Catalogue Essay KAWS,,born Brian Donnelly, creates bold, bright work that brings together the spheres of fine art and commerce. The name KAWS was originally his graffiti tag, Donnelly claims “there’s no meaning to it” and he was simply attracted to the arrangement of the letters. His refined comic book aesthetic clearly derives some of its character from his early graffiti work in its bold colours and lines. His oeuvre reinterprets cartoon figures such as SpongeBob Square Pants, Mickey Mouse and the Smurfs, characters widely familiar to a vast audience. His work is intended to be accessible to everyone: “I just want to make stuff that no one is ever too stupid to get.” (KAWS(quoted in Cesar Pesari, KAWS Covers Paper Magazine’s November 2013 Art Issue, 6 November, 2013). Having worked briefly for Disney after graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York, KAWS is well placed to transform and re-imagine today’s most iconic characters. KAWS describes his acrylic paintings as “graphic shapes that may or may not recall familiar imagery” (KAWS( www.blouinartinfo.com). The paintings are not made in a traditional way: he first draws the image by hand, then redraws it on a computer using Adobe Illustrator. The image is then printed out and projected, from which the final painting is made. In Projector, the large X that dominates the canvas references his cartoon figures, for which he replaces their eyes with Xs. The image can therefore be understood as an abstracted version of one of his cartoon characters. The storage of the painting in an acrylic box refers to collectible toys - KAWS is famed for his plastic toys which, like his paintings, revisit popular characters. By packaging the paintings in such a way, KAWS attempted to bridge the gap between toys and art. KAWS’s wide-ranging production straddles fine and commercial art, disturbing the traditional hierarchy. For KAWS,,art and product are one and the same. Fine art, therefore, has not been his sole focus, instead his “goal has been just to figure out how to get through life making stuff.” Read More Artist Bio KAWS American • 1974 To understand the work of KAWS is to understand his roots in the skateboard and graffiti crews of New York City. Brian Donnelly chose KAWS as his moniker to tag city streets beginning in the 1990s, and quickly became a celebrated standout in the scene. Having swapped spray paint for explorations in fine art spanning sculpture, painting and collage, KAWS has maintained a fascination with classic cartoons, including Garfield, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Simpsons, and reconfigured familiar subjects into a world of fantasy. Perhaps he is most known for his larger-than-life fiberglass sculptures that supplant the body of Mickey Mouse onto KAWS' own imagined creatures, often with 'x'-ed out eyes or ultra-animated features. However, KAWS also works frequently in neon and vivid paint, adding animation and depth to contemporary paintings filled with approachable imagination. There is mass appeal to KAWS,,who exhibits globally and most frequently in Asia, Europe and the United States. View More Works