Painted in 2014, Untitled celebrates KAWS’ distinct visual vocabulary and typifies the artist's captivating and graphic canvases that are immaculately executed in acrylic. KAWS’ signature style involves the reworking of many familiar icons from popular culture and comic books, often featuring cartoon characters with X-covered eyes, such as Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob SquarePants and the Michelin Man. In the present work, Snoopy and Woodstock from Charles M. Schulz’s loved comic strip Peanuts are closely cropped yet still recognisable. In the present work, the artist’s dark spin on these otherwise playful figures is emphasised by the monochrome palette of this canvas and his confident and strikingly effective use of line. Deftly operating at the intersection of street art and commercialism, with a decidedly Pop sensibility, KAWS’ body of work has become prolific in its own right.

Professionally known as KAWS, Brooklyn-based artist Brian Donnelly began his career as a street artist and is now widely considered one of today’s most vibrant and exciting contemporary artists. His practice is rooted in both the commercialist aesthetics of artists such as Claes Oldenburg and Takashi Murakami and his personal fascination with graphic design and graffiti has resulted in his production of dynamic, ironic and playful works, charged with an underlying social commentary.