Kaws All Around The World

It’s hard not to notice the astronomical change in the art landscape over the past 25 years.

- Evan Pricco

The notoriety and fame that a generation of artists have achieved while still active in both the fine art and pop culture realms seems unprecedented. Sit back and wonder why, and the conclusion may be that social media, celebrity interest, and their integration of art, music, and product have changed the game. Thinking of the most famous artists in the world, Haring, Warhol, and Basquiat, for example, I see a blueprint for what was to come in the 1990s and twenty-first century. But there hasn’t been an artist over the last 25 years who exists in his own stratosphere, his own singular universe, quite like the artist we know as simply, KAWS.

From toys to graffiti, fine art to fashion, art collecting and public art that bridges American pop culture to an international audience, KAWS has defined an era where the artist can be whatever he or she wants to be without compromise. And, in many ways, KAWS has achieved success as an artist without being shackled to a particular thing, a genre, if you will. He really is known as just KAWS, and by and large, he is quite content.

I sat down with KAWS over the course of two meetings, one in Tokyo in the spring on the eve of a solo show at Perrotin, and later in the fall at his Brooklyn studio while he prepared works for an upcoming solo show at Skarstedt Gallery in NYC. The latter would be the first solo show in his hometown in over five years, a detail not lost on the artist. We discussed his relationship with Japan, graffiti, art school and his ability to avoid being pigeonholed in particular urban and street genres. He was forthcoming and honest as we navigated through the last 30 years of his life.