FENOMENI / PHENOMENA
Skulptura od 70.000 ružičastih
cvetova bila je u centru piste na Diorovoj reviji This sculpture made from 70,000 pink flowers was featured as the runway centrepiece of the Dior show
I n an art world that’s obsessed with hype hunting and collaborations, one creator has succeeded in rising above the rest. Yet the enigmatic KAWS says that he could neither have dreamt of nor planned for this success. Not during the 1990s, when he converted the streets of New York into his canvas, and not even today, when his ubiquitous ‘Companion’ has soared to the stratosphere. The homes of the biggest contemporary music stars – whether we’re talking about heroes of the Latin trap genre, K-pop sensations with cryptic names or established hip hop authors – have something in common that they carefully preserve on their polished glass shelves. No, we’re not talking about the glittering Grammy awards that secured them superstar status – rather small vi- nyl statuettes that resemble some dystopian cousins of Mickey Mouse, known as Companions… These figurines are the work of a man who goes by the pseudonym of KAWS; an artist who found his posi- MASTER OF TECTONIC INTERSECTIONS Do you know who KAWS is? The most viral creator of the connected world exposes the truth about the holy grail of collectors and digital aesthetics
tion at the tectonic intersection between branding, cou- ture, installation, sculpture and retail, and thus won over the affections of today's creative icons, such as Shepard Fairey, Virgil Abloh and Takashi Murakami. However, the influence of his creative work extends far beyond the circle of those who can afford to spend millions on modern art, like Pharrell Williams and Justin Bieber, who allegedly spent millions on Companions sculptures. By consistently taking recognisable icons of pop culture – such as The Simpsons, Disney characters or SpongeBob - and reinterpreting them in ways that are equally playful and subversive, KAWS understands bet- ter than any other contemporary artist the importance of shock values at a time when securing undivided at- tention is worth more than gold. If branding and con- cept are the two most important elements ensuring suc- cess in modern global art circles, then KAWS is one of the few to have mastered them both - and who is capa- ble of pairing them by utilising his carefully acquired ac- ademic understanding of the history of art. Born in 1974 as Brian Donnelly in Jersey City, his alias doesn't have any deeper meaning – he just really liked the way the letters looked together as a tag. As a youngster, he would regularly catch the high-speed train from his hometown to New York, where he and his pals would cruise the city’s avenues on skateboards. With a fascination for Basquiat and Haring, but also the flour- ishing graffiti scene of the time, he enrolled in art school in a quest to acquire a more formal education than could be provided by the walls where he left his tags. However, it was only at the start of the new mil-
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