A guard had to shoo people away so others could get a chance to take a look at the art. However, that didn’t keep large groups of hip, young KAWS fans from congregating to get themselves photographed in front of GONE. I saw this show in mid-May, so we were all still fully masked. Private collection KAWS, CHUM (KCB4), 2012ĬHUM is my favorite of the KAWS figures. KAWS “decided to sell these square canvases in oversized blister packs, molded plastic packaging commonly used to contain small trays and batteries.” (Brooklyn Museum) These KIMPSONS Package Paintings might be my favorite pieces in the show. Private collection KAWS, Untitled (KIMPSONS), Package Painting Series, 2001Īcrylic on canvas in blister package with printed card KAWS, SMALL K LANDSCAPE, SMALL B LANDSCAPE, SMALL M LANDSCAPE, SMALL H LANDSCAPE, 2001 The exhibition is extensive, with 167 objects, so I am only showing you some of my favorites. (phone booth ad that the artist appropriated) These all dated from the 1990s when Donnelly developed his KAWS tag. In the glass case, right by the exhibition entrance, I loved looking at the blackbooks, postcards and photos. Here is a New York Times review which will give you a good understanding of the exhibition. KAWS, ALONG THE WAY, 2013Īs you enter the museum you are greeted by these enormous eighteen-foot-high wood sculptures. I highly recommend going to see it if you can. The twenty-five year KAWS survey show runs until September 5, 2021. I had been slow to the KAWS fan club, but I am now a full-fledged member. It probably wasn’t Donnelly’s plan to become the conglomerate.The moment I got my second vaccine shot and knew I was going to be back in NYC, I got tickets for the KAWS: What Party exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. But he also shows that the work’s strengths are also its weaknesses. The art world prefers not to engage with commercialism, its best worst kept secret - what is any art gallery if not a store? Donnelly’s work is an attempt to make visible the hidden side of consumer art. This is the quality that makes people uneasy. Because of his close work with consumerism, this feels like a part of the show. KAWS presents new AR works, allowing visitors to interact virtually with his sculptures using their smartphones to create their own experience.įinishing off Kaw’s collection is a gallery-size gift shop, a monument to his merchandising potency. He teams up with Acute Art, a digital art platform directed by acclaimed Swedish curator Daniel Birnbaum. Additionally, he invites explore our own relationship with and connection to objects. KAWS invites us to engage with his work, both in person and virtually. He emphasizes that even within a cultural environment shaped by image and consumption, universal emotions such as love, friendship, loneliness, and alienation remain constant. The aesthetic and the transcendent, the commodified and the priceless. KAWS’s practice acknowledges that works of art can occupy multiple realms. It also features new pieces made uniquely for the exhibition along with his early-career altered advertisements. KAWS: WHAT PARTY is a sweeping survey featuring more than one hundred broad-ranging works, such as rarely seen graffiti drawings and notebooks, paintings and sculptures, smaller collectibles, furniture, and monumental installations of his popular figures. His practice both critiques and participates in consumer culture. He adapts the rules of cultural production and consumption in the twenty-first century. Brooklyn Museum Exhibit Kaws: What Partyįor twenty-five years, Brooklyn-based artist KAWS (Brian Donnelly, American, born 1974) has bridged the worlds of art, popular culture, and commerce.
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