| This segment profiles the artist known as KAWS, former Graffiti (tag) artist turned painter and designer of limited edition toys and clothing. This segment also features some cool clips of KAWS' art, displayed in Pharrell Williams' Miami Home and Kanye West's latest album cover and billboard. You can catch his next exhibition, "KAWS, The Long Way Home," February 21,— April 04, 2009 at the Honor Fraser Gallery in LA www.honorfraser.com or www.honorfraser.com "I just started simply through graffiti and drawing on my skateboard and painting on walls and getting that small recognition," said KAWS, known to his family as Brian Donnelly. KAWS graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a BFA in illustration in 1996. After graduation, KAWS briefly worked for Disney as a freelance animator painting backgrounds. He also contributed to the animated series 101 Dalmations, Daria and Doug. He began his career as a graffiti artist growing up in Jersey City, New Jersey. Later moving to NYC in the 1990s, KAWS started subverting imagery on billboards, bus shelters and phone booth advertisements. These reworked advertisements were at first left alone, lasting for up to several months, but as KAWS' popularity skyrocketed, the ads became increasingly sought after. In addition to NY, KAWS has done work in Paris, London, Berlin and Tokyo. In the late 90s, KAWS began to design and produce limited edition vinyl toys, "an instant hit with the global art toy-collecting community ... |
