KAWS has emerged as a truly international artist through his appeal to diverse audiences across the globe. His signature imagery is easily recognizable, and through his strategies of appropriation, he has developed an oeuvre that transcends genres and defies all hierarchies. Over the last two decades, KAWS has won acclaim with work that demonstrates a unique agility and craft, as well as an underlying humor and irreverence. His prolific body of work straddles the worlds of art and design and includes paintings, murals, sculptures of all sizes, graphic and product design, advertising intervention, and now augmented reality. Throughout his career, KAWS has created work that engages audiences beyond the traditional art world. From his early days of interventions in the public realm to large-scale sculptures in Hong Kong harbor and Mount Fuji, his art connects with experienced art lovers as well as with people who have never set foot in the museums and galleries that exhibit the work. What he has to offer is nothing less than an exploration of humanity itself, perhaps best exemplified by his cast of hybrid cartoon characters. KAWS’ art is both playful and deeply emotional at the same time.

KAWS (b. 1974) lives and works in New York.

KAWS NEW FICTION Series
FAMILY, 2022, Augmented Reality
SEEING, 2022, Augmented Reality
SERPENTINE, 2022, Augmented Reality
WATCHING, 2022, Augmented Reality
WHAT PARTY, 2022, Augmented Reality. Black and Orange variation

KAWS REESE'S PUFFS, 2021, Augmented Reality. Orange and Blue variation

COMPANION 2020, 2020, Augmented Reality
HOLIDAY FLOAT, 2020, Augmented Reality
THE RETURN, 2020, Augmented Reality AR Drawing
KAWS, 2020, Augmented Reality AR Drawing
SHARE, 2020, Augmented Reality AR Drawing

HOLIDAY SPACE, 2020, Augmented Reality

The Scotts, 2020, Augmented Reality AR Drawing. Pink, Brown and Grey variation

EXPANDED HOLIDAY series
COMPANION (EXPANDED), 2020, Augmented Reality
AT THIS TIME (EXPANDED), 2020, Augmented Reality. Brown, Grey and Black variation
TAKE (EXPANDED), 2020, Augmented Reality

2022
Augmented Reality

Fortnite island code 9441-7852-6686

In his first major solo exhibition in London, NEW FICTION, KAWS (Brian Donnelly b.1974) presents new and recent works in physical and augmented reality at Serpentine North from 18 January – 27 February 2022. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with Acute Art and curated by Acute Art’s Artistic Director, Daniel Birnbaum. A parallel digital version of the show launches simultaneously in Fortnite, a video game developed by Epic Games.

In addition to the Fortnite collaboration, Serpentine and KAWS will use an app developed by Acute Art to offer a bridge between the virtual and the physical worlds. All the paintings and sculptures in the exhibition as well as a miniature version of the entire show will exist as AR works on the Acute Art app and can be placed and viewed at home by viewers globally. They can also be shared on social media, making KAWS’ art visible across the world.

In the summer of 2020, Acute Art had the pleasure of presenting HOLIDAY SPACE, a free new AR work by KAWS.

On Monday 17th August, in collaboration with All Rights Reserved, the artist launched this iconic COMPANION figure into space, in celebration of the character’s 20th anniversary. Using a sounding balloon, the KAWS:HOLIDAY SPACE sculpture was sent up 41.5km into the stratosphere, and took a two hour zero gravity walk before retuning to Earth.

“So many projects have been cancelled this year. I wanted to create one that could be experienced safely from home. Because this year marks 20 years since I created COMPANION, I tried to find a way around all the restrictions and do something special,” says Kaws. “I felt so confined the past few months that creating a project like this has really given me a chance to escape.”

2020
Augmented Reality

In collaboration with Acute Art, KAWS produced EXPANDED HOLIDAY, which demonstrates the enormous potential of augmented reality (AR) and conveys a sense of mischievous humor through the juxtaposition of physical and virtual worlds. The app features a small version of COMPANION (EXPANDED) and AT THIS TIME (EXPANDED) from his project EXPANDED HOLIDAY, and a series of AR drawings.

KAWS comments, “When I realized the quality that could be achieved and experienced in AR, I was immediately drawn to its potential. I have been creating objects and exhibiting works in public spaces throughout my career, and this allows me to expand on that in a whole new arena. The possibilities of locations and scale are endless, and I’m excited to start a new dialogue in this medium.”

2023
KAWS: FAMILY, Art Gallery Ontario, Canada
KAWS NEW FICTION, Catalogue launch, Chiltern Street, London

2022
KAWS: NEW FICTION, Serpentine Gallery, London
Light to Night Festival, National Gallery Singapore (Group exhibition) 
Un Panorama de Este Mundo, PROA (Buenos Aires), Argentina(Group exhibition) 
Kaleidoscope Eyes, Leeum Museum of Art (Seoul), South Korea(Group exhibition)
Kaleidoscope Eyes, Ho-Am Museum of Art (Yongin), South Korea (Group exhibition)
AR.Trail,  National Gallery Victoria, Australia (Group exhibition)

2021
The Looking Glass,  The Shed, (NY), (Group exhibition)
KAWS TOKYO FIRST, Mori Art Museum, (Tokyo)

2020
COMPANION (EXPANDED), Global AR launch (NY, London, Paris, Tokyo, HK, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Melbourne, Qatar, Tanzania)
Nuit Blanche, Paris
Mirage: Contemporary Art in Augmented Reality, UCCA, Beijing, China (Group exhibition)
Unreal City, with Dazed Magazine, London, (Group exhibition)