Brian Donnelly (1974), known professionally as Kaws (stylized as KAWS), is an American artist and designer. His work includes repeated use of a cast of figurative characters and motifs, some dating back to the beginning of his career in the 1990s, initially painted in 2D and later realized in 3D. Some of his characters are his own creations while others are reworked versions of existing icons.
Kaws' sculptures range in size from a few inches to ten meters tall, and are made from various materials including fiberglass, aluminum, wood, bronze, and a steel pontoon inflatable raft.
Kaws' influences come from traditional high art painters like Gerhard Richter, Claes Oldenburg, and Chuck Close, and he has been compared to the likes of Andy Warhol for his cross-market appeal and ability to blur lines between commercial and fine art. His work is exhibited in galleries and museums, held in the permanent collections of public institutions, and avidly collected by individuals including music producer Swizz Beatz, internet figure PewDiePie, rapper Pharrell Williams, and members of South Korean group BTS. A number of books illustrating his work have been published.
Kaws lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, creating sculptures, acrylic paintings on canvas, and screen prints while also collaborating commercially, predominantly on limited edition toys, but also clothing, skateboard decks, and other products.
Donnelly was born in Jersey City, New Jersey where he attended St. Anthony High School. As a teenager, Donnelly created a tag for himself, KAWS (based on the way the letters looked — the word, in fact, has no meaning), which he painted on the roof of an area building so that he could see it outside while attending class in high school. He went on to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York City, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration in 1996. Following graduation, he briefly worked for Jumbo Pictures as a freelance animator painting backgrounds for the animated series 101 Dalmatians, Daria and Doug.
Moving to New York City in the 1990s, illegal graffiti was the first step of Kaws learning his craft. Animator by day, and graffiti artist by night, Kaws started subvertising billboards, bus shelters, and phone booths, using a skeleton key gifted to him by friend and fellow graffiti artist Barry McGee. Using a key he created for himself, he also started subvertising bus shelters. Kaws has since subvertised in Paris, London, Berlin, and Tokyo.
Kaws' acrylic paintings and sculpture have many repeating images, all meant to be universally understood, surpassing languages and cultures. Some of his characters date back to the beginning of his career in the 1990s: Companion (created in 1999), Accomplice, Chum, and Bendy. His series The Kimpsons subverted the American cartoon The Simpsons.
Kaws' Companion is a grayscale clown-like figure based on Mickey Mouse with his face obscured by both hands, and two bones sticking out of his head. In 1999, the Japanese toy company Bounty Hunter produced and sold a vinyl Companion toy (Mickey Mouse with X-ed out eyes). The figure was adapted into a balloon for the 2012 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, as part of its "Blue Sky Gallery" of balloons. Having already created oversized sculptures in the past, Kaws started to produce further sculptures of his Companion character for exhibitions in Switzerland, Hong Kong, Málaga, London, and China.
Kaws has periodically shown both paintings and products at Colette in Paris since 1999. His work was included in the traveling exhibition Beautiful Losers, which started at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center and traveled throughout the US and Europe, including his then-largest museum show to date at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA in 2012.
On April 1, 2019 at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, The Kaws Album (2005), a painting by Kaws commissioned by Nigo, sold for 115.9 million Hong Kong dollars, or about $14.7 million U.S. dollars, a new auction record for the artist at the time.
Kaws' work can be characterized by an emphasis on color and line, distinctive graphics, such as the repeated use of "x"'s on hands and nose and ears, and a re-appropriation of pop culture icons such as Mickey Mouse, the Michelin Man, the Smurfs, Snoopy, and SpongeBob SquarePants. His characters are generally depicted in a shy and/or powerless pose often with their hands over their nose. In his paintings, Kaws always deconstructs his appropriation of iconic characters into shapes that produces abstract paintings.
Since his first vinyl toy with the Japanese clothing brand Bounty Hunter in 1999, he has collaborated on toys with other Japanese companies: Nigo for A Bathing Ape (Bape), Medicom Toy, and Santastic!. Since the beginning of their partnership in 2001, Nigo and Kaws have collaborated on the packaging for Kaws’ “The Kimpsons” exhibit and three seasons of A Bathing Ape. He and Medicom Toy ran OriginalFake, a brand and store in Aoyama, from 2006 to May 2013.
In 2008 he collaborated with John Mayer to produce a collection of guitar picks.
In 2008, he created cover art for musicians Towa Tei, Cherie, Clipse (Clipse Till The Casket Drops) and Kanye West (808s & Heartbreak) as well as designed Nike Air Force 1 trainers. And in March 2017, the Nike subsidiary Air Jordan released a capsule collection in collaboration with Kaws – four Air Jordan sneakers customized by Kaws, and a number of apparel pieces.
For the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, Kaws redesigned the MTV Moonman trophy in the form of his "Companion" character, and his 3D model was used to create a 60-foot tall inflatable version.
In 2016, Kaws entered into an ongoing relationship with clothing store Uniqlo to produce a line of affordable T-shirts and accessories; the first line was clothing and soft toys based on the popular children's show Sesame Street. In April 2017, Uniqlo released a line of Peanuts-themed T-shirts, accessories, and plushies designed by Kaws; and in November 2018, Kaws created a second line range of Sesame Street-themed clothing and soft toys.
In May 2017, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City released limited supplies of the $200 Kaws Companion action figure, resulting in the MoMA Design Store website crashing due to the unprecedented rush of traffic.
Comic book artist Bill Morrison felt "ripped off" by Kaws' 2005 work The Kaws Album because the work was simply a "traced interpretation of my Simpsons Yellow Album" (released in 1998), which itself was a parody of the cover art for the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band replaced with characters from the Simpsons.
© 2021. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Brian Donnelly/Kaws. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Brian Donnelly |
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| Brian Donnelly |
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| Companionship in the Age of Loneliness, 2000 |
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| In the Woods, 2002 |
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| Untitled (Kimpsons #3), 2003 |
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| Untitled (Fatal Group), 2004 |
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| KIMPSONS, painted in 2005 |
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| The KAWS Album, 2005 |
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| 4 Foot Companion (Black), 2007 |
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| 2008 Kurf (Hot Dog), 2008 |
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| Kaws' Companion (Passing Through), 2011 |
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| Imaginary friends, 201 |
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| Joe Kaws (Snoopy), 2012 |
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| KCHUM (KCB7), painted in 2012 |
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| Born to blend, 2013 |
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| Final Days, 2014 |
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| Clea |
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| Clean Slate Gray, 2014 |
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| YSKIK (You Should Know I Know), 2015 |
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| Companion (Brown) Open Edition, 2016 |
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| Piranhas When You're Sleeping, 2016 |
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| BFF Companion, 2018 |
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| Campana Black BFF Chair, 2018 |
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| Companion BFF, China, 2018 |
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| Waiting, 2018 |
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| Gone, Commissioned by the NGV, 2019 |
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| HOLIDAY, 2019 |
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| Holiday, Hong Kong, 2019 |
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| Holiday, Hong Kong, 2019 |
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| Holiday, Taipei, 2019 |
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| Holiday, Taipei, 2019 |
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| MOCAD Unique Work, 2019 |
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| Seeing Pink, 2019 |
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| HOLIDAY SPACE, 2020 |
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| Urge (Grey), 2020 |
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| WHAT PARTY, 2020 |
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| 4-Foot Companions at Billionaire Boys Club Pop-up Store in Miami |
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