KAWS TALK BACK, 2013 (detail). Estimate: HK$8,000,000 - 12,000,000.
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale at Phillips Hong Kong, 24 November.
KAWS is one of the most iconic and prolific artists of our generation. An artist, collector, designer and entrepreneur with an artistic practice incorporating painting, sculpture and printmaking, his multi-faceted identity reflects the fluid nature of art, technology and contemporary popular culture. With his unique aesthetic that has garnered him a devoted international following of more than 2.5 million people on Instagram alone, KAWS has experienced a meteoric ascent to international acclaim. His characteristically bright compositions have caught the attention of collectors worldwide, as well as giants such as Nike, Dior and Uniqlo. His practice has been honored with numerous solo shows around the globe including a retrospective at the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia (2019-2020) as well as an upcoming major survey at the Brooklyn Museum scheduled for 2021.
KAWS TALK BACK, 2013. Estimate: HK$8,000,000 - 12,000,000.
20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale at Phillips Hong Kong, 24 November.
Painted with such perfected clarity that there is no trace of his freehanded approach, TALK BACK clearly demonstrates KAWS' technical mastery and meticulous attention to detail. The precision of his brushwork reflects the artist’s admiration of Jeff Koons, whose “perfectionist mentality” KAWS has commended, appreciating how “over the top” it is (Brian Donnelly, quoted in Tobey Maguire, ‘KAWS’, Interview Magazine). KAWS’ works follow in the footsteps of Pop Art, as his questioning of consumer culture aligns his practice with artistic predecessors including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Claes Oldenburg and Takashi Murakami. Unique to him, however, KAWS’ instantly identifiable aesthetic straddles both the art and design worlds with a global outreach, incorporating public art, product design, toy making, painting, sculpture and printmaking. With inspiration drawn from a variety of other sources, including high art, comic books, and popular animations, KAWS’ clean graphic style of perfect lines and abstract shapes stems from his initial background as a graffiti provocateur in the 1990s. In modifying photographic images on billboards, fashion and bus shelter advertisements, KAWS would leave his playful mark in such a skillful manner that his brushstroke-free versions could have been mistaken for the initially intended imagery. Executed in 2013, the present work is thus not only a compelling example of KAWS’ refined aesthetic, but of the transformation of his work into the upper echelons of fine art galleries and institutions.
KAWS UNTITLED, 2013. Estimate: HK$800,000 - 1,200,000.
20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale at Phillips Hong Kong, 25 November.
UNTITLED cleverly utilizes the circular shape of the canvas, conveying a single eye that directly confronts its viewer. This magnified perspective allows the viewer to visualize a larger character beyond the canvas, creating a presence more imposing and emotionally charged than its domestic size. His use of flat, non-hierarchical application of paint with no visible brushstrokes also instills the work with a highly graphic quality. With a sharp contrasting color palette of muted grey, bold red and radioactive yellow, accompanied by KAWS’ characteristic cross over the eye alluding to drunkenness or death, the simplicity of the composition allows its colors to take the stage. Through UNTITLED, KAWS shows his innate understanding of the emotional and intellectual force of color, eliciting undercurrents of angst, unease and even empathy in the viewer.
KAWS UNTITLED (MBFL10), 2015. Estimate: HK$2,500,000 - 3,500,000.
20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale at Phillips Hong Kong, 25 November.
Using accessible characters as his main subjects, KAWS opens his art not only to art critics and intellectuals, but also to a mass audience. In UNTITLED (MBFL10), the artist draws from the comforting familiarity associated with popular cartoons, but also abstracts and reworks them with warped perspectives and frenzied outlines to elicit complex emotional responses. With Xs for eyes, the present lot shows KAWS yet again utilizing his signature motif onto a familiar comic strip beagle character. Well-known for his clean visual imagery, KAWS’s lack of visible brushstrokes and use of a minimalist monochrome palette maintain a graphic quality to the work— stripping the figurative into an abstract surface that directly confronts its viewers. The viewer recognizes the lovable beagle character, but its crossed-out eyes and agitated lines assign an entirely new personality to the original cartoon. The repetitive effect from the multiplication of the figure conveys a sense of insecurity— as if the character is attempting to assert its presence by echoing itself.
KAWS AT THIS TIME, 2016. Estimate: HK$800,000 - 1,200,000.
20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale at Phillips Hong Kong, 25 November.
AT THIS TIME presents KAWS’ signature COMPANION figure standing alone with his head tilted backwards and his eyes sunk in his hands. The COMPANION’s posture conveys myriad, contradicting emotions, spanning disbelief, rest, isolation and playfulness. Captured in a state of isolation, COMPANION appears sad and alone, in a complete paradox to its name. Yet when seen through another perspective, the character’s pose could be a playful expression, redolent of the childhood game of hide-and-seek. From play to retreat, invitation to isolation, the COMPANION’s pose conjures a poignant vulnerability that summons empathy from its viewers.
At once whimsical and psychologically charged, the sculpture invites viewers into a visual universe infused with KAWS’ instantly recognizable cartoon imagery. KAWS designed his first COMPANION character in 1999, initially taking the form of a small-scale figurine. Executed in bronze and painted in the artist’s classic grey colorway, this sculpture encapsulates the artist’s visual language that oscillates between popular culture and fine art.