A K W S

I N V D E R

“I guess my goal has been just to figure out how to get through life making stuff.”

There is a clear vein of Pop Culture in KAWS’ art, most noticeably in his cast of cartoonish characters and motifs, including his best-known characters with crossed out eyes. Some characters are his own creation, while others are re-imagined versions of pop characters such as the Michelin Man, The Simpsons and Mickey Mouse. Brian Donnelly, known professionally as KAWS, is a celebrated artist and designer known for his signature limitededition toys, paintings, sculptures and prints using a variety of media.

Born in New Jersey in 1974, where he continues to live and work today, Donnelly graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a BFA. He became interested in graffiti at an early age, honing his skills in the 1990s by graffiti-bombing trains, walls and billboards in Lower Manhattan before moving on to subverting images on billboards, bus stops and phone booths with his characters such as ‘The Companion’, ‘Bendy’ and ‘The Accomplice’. As he gained street accreditation, these graffiti advertisements became increasingly sought after by the public, and he travelled extensively to work in Paris, London, Germany and Japan. He went on to work as a freelance artist for Disney, creating animated backgrounds.

In the late 1990s, KAWS began to design and produce limited-edition vinyl toys which were an immediate hit internationally, particularly in Japan. He has also designed clothing for popular brands such as Vans, Uniqlo and Nike, as well as Supreme, Comme des Gar ç ons and Hennessyeverything from skateboards to perfume bottles, applying his distinctive signature style. He also contributed to Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak album cover, redesigned MTV’s Moon Man statue for the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards and provided the inspiration for a balloon displayed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

KAWS has evolved from graffiti and mass-produced commercial items to creating unique sculptures, installations and paintings for some of the most prestigious galleries, public institutions and museums in the world. He has had solo exhibitions in the US, the UK and Japan, and his travelling exhibition ‘Beautiful Losers’ toured throughout Europe and the US. Not only is his work hugely popular with art lovers and collectors, it is also highly sought after by art investors.

Despite being around since the 1990s, in 2021, both the volume of his artworks offered and sold at auction increased in comparison to the previous three years. In terms of sales, KAWS was the most sold contemporary artist in the last year, selling over 1,682 lots between October 2020 and October 2021, ahead of both Murakami and Banksy.

B.1960 D.1988

“I don’t think about art when I’m working. I try to think about life.”

Born in 1960 and of Haitian and Puerto-Rican descent, Jean-Michel Basquiat grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He was exposed to art by his mother from a young age and was encouraged by his teachers at school to draw. After dropping out of high school and leaving home in 1976, he would never go on to receive any formal art education.

For many years, Basquiat barely made a living wage, selling T-shirts and postcards during the day and covering Brooklyn in his bold designs by night. Slowly, working under the moniker SAMO (Same Old Shit) in tandem with his friend Al Diaz, started to attract attention.

By the 1980s, New York had entered a period of thriving artistic freedom and consequently, Basquiat started to paint and draw with more focused effort, befriending other artists around him. In 1981, he met Andy Warhol, and they instantly formed a close friendship. The duo would go on to collaborate on several artworks during the mid-1980s, remaining friends until Basquiat’s death.

The artist first publicly exhibited in a group show in a vacant Times Square building in June 1980. His works were featured alongside other artistic geniuses of the period such as Keith Haring, Kiki Smith and Jenny Holzer. This group exhibition marked a turning point for Basquiat and led to his first solo show in 1982.

Basquiat immediately rose to fame, with critics extolling the artist. Basking in the limelight, he continued to create works for his ever-expanding throng of enthusiasts, and only halted by his untimely passing in 1988, aged just 27.

Although the life of this exceptional artist was cut tragically short, his works can be found in museum collections around the world. From The Broad in Los Angeles to the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, people across the globe continue to admire and revere his work.

In 2017, a Basquiat artwork named Untitled was sold at Sotheby’s New York for US$110.5 million, setting a new record at the time for the most expensive artwork created by an American artist to be sold at auction.

In 2021, Basquiat broke another auction record when his painting, Warrior (1982) sold for HKD 323,600,000 at Christie’s Hong Kong, making it the most expensive Western artwork to sell at auction in Asia.

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT SUPER HERO PORTFOLIO OF FOUR, 1982-87/2022