Beschreibung:

KAWSNYT 2013 acrylic on canvas 48 x 42 in. (121.9 x 106.7 cm) Signed and dated "KAWS 13" on the reverse.
Provenance Honor Fraser, Los Angeles Private Collection, New York Acquired from the above by the present owner Exhibited Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, KAWS @ PAFA, October 12, 2013 - January 5, 2014 Catalogue Essay "You just understand that people come with their own backgrounds and their own history and are going to make what they want of the work they see. It’s not like I’m trying to reach a certain person or deliver a certain message. It’s not something you can control, and it’s not something I want to control." KAWS Deftly operating at the intersection of street art and commercialism with a decidedly Pop sensibility, KAWS’s body of work has become titanic in its own right. Possessing a disenchanted humor within a discerning graphic language, his larger-than-life subjects are gutsy, vibrant and mischievous—and instantly recognizable, with their tell-tale X icons. In the present lot NYT, we enter a window into an unusual visual landscape and glimpse a scene in which a warped SpongeBob SquarePants has forcefully pressed his face upon the glass before us. While we are seeing only a bulbous nose and hints of the eyes and lips, the cultural immediacy of the Nickelodeon giant and the distinct iconography of KAWS’s X covered-eyes render the work immediately identifiable and yet startlingly awry. The sinister motif of the X adopted by KAWS allows each of his cartoon characters to undergo a sardonic mutation. His use of acrylic paint can be traced back to his beginnings in animation for Jumbo Pictures and painting the scenes for the live-action 101 Dalmations in 1996. In the present lot, SpongeBob’s iconic yellow has been traded for a bright indigo blue, with purple lips and contrasting neon eyes, yet he is still familiar to a media-savvy audience. Of his propensity to represent SpongeBob, who appears throughout his works, KAWS has explained, “I started doing SpongeBob paintings for Pharrell. Then I started doing smaller paintings, which got much more abstract. And SpongeBob was something I wanted to do because graphically I love the shapes. But honestly, when I’m painting SpongeBob, I’m not thinking, Oh, I loved this episode. Honestly, I’ve never even watched it” (T. Maguire, “KAWS,” Interview, May 2010). The cleverly-named KAWSBOB series, of which the present lot is quintessential, continues to challenge our perceptions about how artists and their avenues of production can both represent the effects of mass media and still turn it on its own head. 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