

Even in those early days, KAWS was hot on the resale market. These creations gained a following, to the point where work posted in the morning would disappear by lunchtime. Like young Hansel and Gretel with their trail of crumbs, KAWS would mark the morning route to his downtown Manhattan office with “subvertising,” “interrupting” fashion advertisements by adding his colorful character Bendy, its sinuous length sliding playfully around the likes of a Calvin Klein perfume bottle or supermodel Christy Turlington. In the late 1990s, the artist, a 1996 graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts, was making a living as an illustrator for the animation studio Jumbo Pictures. Today, KAWS’s oeuvre encompasses art toys, sculptures and colorful paintings and prints that appropriate pop phenomena like the Smurfs, the Simpsons and SpongeBob SquarePants.

KAWS was his tag, chosen simply because he liked the way it looked. You may have to select a menu option or click a button.In the beginning, Brian Donnelly was just a kid from Jersey City, New Jersey, who got into the graffiti thing.

“ Block ads on – This website” switch off the toggle to turn it from blue to gray.Click the AdBlock Plus icon in the browser extension area in the upper right-hand corner.Refresh the page or click the button below to continue.Under “ Pause on this site” click “ Always”.Click the AdBlock icon in the browser extension area in the upper right-hand corner.Adblock Adblock Plus Adblocker Ultimate Ghostery uBlock Origin Others
