KAWS (USA, 1974), born Brian Donnelly, is a contemporary artist and designer celebrated for his cartoon-inspired sculptures, paintings, and collectible toys. Merging street art and pop culture, his iconic 'Companion' figures and bold graphics have reached global audiences, bridging the worlds of fine art, fashion, and commercial design.
SilkscreenSilkscreen is a printmaking method that uses a screen made of silk or other mesh fabric. The screen is treated with a substance that blocks ink in certain areas, allowing ink to pass through only in the desired sections. Each color in the print requires a separate screen.
KAWS (USA, 1974), born Brian Donnelly, is a contemporary artist and designer celebrated for his cartoon-inspired sculptures, paintings, and collectible toys. Merging street art and pop culture, his iconic 'Companion' figures and bold graphics have reached global audiences, bridging the worlds of fine art, fashion, and commercial design.
Born Brian Donnelly but creating under a pseudonym, Kaws is an artist renowned for his acrylic paintings and sculptures that often employ repeated and distinctive graphics while reworking highly recognisable pop culture icons – Companion is one of his most notable sculptures, a large-scale, clown-like and darker take on the universally-recognised Mickey Mouse. Kaws’ early foray into art was through the form of street-graffiti; his trademark ‘x’ symbol, often applied over the hands, eyes and mouths of his characters, sprung from this phase in which Kaws would often replace public advertisements with his own artwork, a technique known as subvertising. Kaws uses a number of different materials throughout his creative processes including wood, aluminium, fiberglass and a steel pontoon inflatable raft; he has also collaborated with numerous companies and artists including Santastic! and John Mayer. (Artist website)
Appropriation in art involves using pre-existing images or objects with little or no modification. This technique has played a significant role across various art forms, including visual arts, music, performance, and literature. In visual arts, appropriation refers to the practice of adopting, sampling, recycling, or borrowing elements—or even entire forms—of existing visual culture, integrating them into new works to create meaning or critique.