KAWS (born Brian Donnelly) graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a BFA in illustration in 1996[1]. After graduation, KAWS briefly worked for Disney as a freelance animator painting backgrounds. He also contributed to the animated series 101 Dalmations, Daria and Doug.[2]
He began his career as a graffiti artist growing up in Jersey City, New Jersey. Later moving to New York City in the 1990s, KAWS started subverting imagery on billboards, bus shelters and phone booth advertisements. These reworked advertisements were at first left alone, lasting for up to several months, but as KAWS’ popularity skyrocketed, the ads became increasingly sought after. In addition to New York, KAWS has done work in Paris, London, Berlin and Tokyo.[3]
In the late 90s, KAWS began to design and produce limited edition vinyl toys, “an instant hit with the global art toy-collecting community,”[2] especially in Japan, where this genre is well respected and widespread. More toys and later clothing were made for Original Fake, a recent collaborative store with Medicom Toy, in the Aoyama district of Tokyo where an original limited edition product is released each week. KAWS has also participated in other commercial collaborations with Nigo for A Bathing Ape, Jun “Jonio” Takahashi for Undercover, snowboard projects with Burton, and sneakers with Nike and Vans. His most recent collaboration was with Comme des Garçons.
KAWS’ acrylic paintings and sculpture have many repeating images, all meant to be universally understood, surpassing languages and cultures. One of KAWS’ early series, Package Paintings, was made in 2000. This series, entitled The Kimpsons, subverted the famous American cartoon, The Simpsons. KAWS explains that he “found it weird how infused a cartoon could become in people’s lives; the impact it could have, compared to regular politics.”[2] In addition, KAWS has reworked other familiar icons such as Mickey Mouse, the Michelin Man and the Smurfs.
Through all of his projects, KAWS has successfully blurred the line between fine art and mass-produced merchandise. He uses his products to allow his imagery to infiltrate a larger audience than that of the fine art world. The artist is currently an active member in both the commercial and fine art communities. Recent solo exhibitions include OriginalFake at the Bape Gallery in Tokyo (2003) and Tokyo First at Parco Gallery in Tokyo (2001). KAWS has been periodically showing both paintings and products at Colette in Paris since 1999. His work is included in the traveling exhibition Beautiful Losers, which started at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center and will be traveling through 2009 throughout the US and Europe. He recenly did Kanye’s 808 and Heartbreak special edition cd cover art
Bun B and UGK are the shit. i been on em since i was younger. i always loved the way cats from the south spit it. these cats were the truest after scarface and geto boys ugk was the only ones puttin it down for h town. they actually from Port Athur TX. this shit go. and when dj Screw got a hold of it it was through the permenthazine pandemic ensued. the under ground kings are rap fixtures and have released classics like supertight, too hard to swallow and Ridin Dirty. They will always be on top and keep releasing good music even with the untimely deathof Pimp C. R.I.P. Chad Butler
I have really been one of the biggest supporters and all out endorsers of the Hundreds. i first came across the hundreds blog when i was working at this law frim in berkeley about 2 years ago. we didnt have myspace or anything like that so i would just look at blogs. one i thought was interesting was the hundreds. i got an adam bomb shirt and thought i was the shit cuz i had never heard of the hundreds. later on in march of ’07 i went to the flightclub L.A. because i liked the NY so much. the flightclub is on Fairfaxa and rosewod and as i was walking arounfd fairfax something drew me to this little boutique. they had just opened up and ithey didnt have a sign. all i saw was the little adam bomb and i said i got a shirt with this dude on it. what other companies have a little bomb guy. and this square white cat with glasses said just us. i looked around and i really liked the vibe. they had a brotha with dreds behind the counter and a buch of skateboard cats sittin in the front smokin ciggarettes, and i though this is my spot. and i follow you guys blog. when i went back to the bay all i could think about is that outhern Cali lifestyl. i love northern california but so cal has suc a diferent feel. i started looking at te blog religiously. everymorning i would start my day with the hundreds blog. then Kanye started his blog about a year and some months ago. from then on every morning the hundreds blog then kanye, then the highsnobiety and th e SFGATe news site. i love current evets.
so dropped my girl off to work and shortly after she called me to pick her up. seems like jacks fucked her stomach up too. so i dropped her off them picked her right up. i told her i had to make my rounds down twn and forced her to go with e. i wasnt drivin her ass back to the eastbay. plus i thought she was fakingiit. my stomach hurt too but not enough to not do shit. i told her i was shopping and she felt beter after that. so we hit union square up and did what we do. looked fly why shopping and eating. and of course stayed smeezed
we kicked it all night, played poker, busted some fleezies and did the damn thang. scot frees da was cool. only a couple days till x mas and still havent shopped, and to top it off these Olle cat want to do a secret santa. all i want for x mas is a starr. scott know whats up
So we got to the Luckys and shopped for the right liquor. we were shopping for a minute ntil we cmame to the conclusion. we only drink Hennessy so why are we fooling ourselves like were gonna drink something else. we grabbed the HEEM. Privledge only and headed back to Scott Frees Spot.
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