Street Artist in the Spotlight: KAWS
From the train yards of New Jersey to the walls of the world’s most prestigious museums, KAWS, born Brian Donnelly, has mastered the art of transformation. His career traces a seamless arc from graffiti provocateur to global cultural phenomenon, all without shedding the sincerity at his core.
KAWS began tagging billboards and bus shelters in the 1990s, subtly hijacking advertising’s language to critique consumer seduction. What began as rebellion became revelation: by altering familiar images, he exposed how deeply our emotions are tied to branding. His characters, crossed-out eyes, inflated forms, and cartoon melancholy, evolved from street interventions into universally recognisable symbols of contemporary alienation.
The creation of Companion, that slumped, X-eyed figure, cemented KAWS’s entry into pop mythology. Equal parts cartoon and elegy, Companion captures a generation caught between irony and intimacy. His collaborations with Nike, Dior, UNIQLO, and Supreme further blurred the line between art and commerce, proving that meaning can exist even within mass production.
Exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, Yuz Museum, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and National Gallery of Victoria have presented his sculptures and paintings as both spectacle and soul-searching. Monumental yet tender, his figures embody the loneliness of the hyperconnected age, characters built to smile but destined to sigh.
KAWS’s gift lies in empathy. Beneath the vinyl gloss and fluorescent colour lies something quietly human, the ache of recognition. In a century of constant consumption, his art reminds us that the most powerful commodity is still connection.
Explore studio pieces by Kaws via our online store, or visit the GraffitiStreet Gallery at 25a West Street, Chichester, England, to view them firsthand.