KAWS

KAWS (born Brian Donnelly, Jersey City, New Jersey, 1974) is an American artist and designer based in Brooklyn, New York, best known for his monumental sculptures and hard-edge paintings featuring the COMPANION — a cartoon-derived figure with X-ed-out eyes — which has become among the most recognizable characters in contemporary art. His work synthesizes street art, graphic design, and fine art into a single visual language that reaches both gallery audiences and global consumer culture.

KAWS built his early reputation in the 1990s by subverting commercial billboard and bus shelter advertisements in New York City, Paris, and Tokyo, inserting his characters into existing imagery. He transitioned to gallery exhibitions in 1999 and began a series of high-profile brand collaborations — with Nike in 1999, Uniqlo in 2016, and Dior in 2019 — that extended his reach far beyond conventional art world audiences.

In April 2019, The KAWS Album (2005, acrylic on canvas, 54 × 54 in.) — a riff on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover — sold for HK$116.1 million (approximately $14.8 million USD) at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, more than fifteen times its pre-sale high estimate.

Key Solo Exhibitions

• KAWS: WHAT PARTY, Brooklyn Museum, New York, 2021
• KAWS: ALONG THE WAY, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, England, 2019
• KAWS: HOLIDAY, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China, 2019
• KAWS: WHERE THE END STARTS, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, 2016
• KAWS, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2012
• KAWS, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, California, 2008

Public Collections

KAWS's work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), Los Angeles, California; the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, California; and the Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China.