Artists : KAWS

KAWS, aka Brian Donnelly, began his career as a graffiti artist in Jersey City, later moving to New York City in the 1990s. He started subverting imagery on billboards, bus shelters and phone booth advertising. His work was often left alone - lasting up to seven months - and soon KAWS' popularity skyrocketed and the ads became increasingly sought after. Working across limited edition vinyl toys, clothing, bottles (for Mexican beer brand Dos Equis) and acrylic paintings and sculptures, KAWS has successfully blurred the line between fine art and mass-produced merchandise. He uses his products to allow his imagery to infiltrate a larger audience than that of the fine art world. The artist is currently an active member in both the commercial and fine art communities. His solo exhibitions include OriginalFake at the Bape Gallery in Tokyo (2003) where his sculpture "Wonderful World" sold for $400,000. Such prices are nothing new for KAWS, whose work realised over £25,912,265 at auction over 2018, after his average sale price almost doubled just in the year of 2017. Last April, the artist completely shattered his previous record when his painting ‘The KAWS Album’ reached an impressive £11.3 million at Soetheby’s auction of the private collection of fashion entrepreneur Nigo in Hong Kong.