‘KAWS: Companionship in the Age of Loneliness’ comes to the NGV International this September for 6 months.

New Jersey-born pop artist Brian Donnelly, a.k.a KAWS, is one of the most prolific artists of our generation. He is best known for his paintings, murals, large-scale sculptures, street art, and graphic and product design.

Many people would recognise his work from his collaborations with Uniqlo that have been ongoing since 2016. He has teamed up with some of the biggest names in the street fashion world designing for Air Jordan designs, Supreme and linking up with NIGO from A Bathing Ape, and Pharrell. His Medicom Toy and OriginalFake figurines have always been a massive hit, the latter a play on words because so many of his figurines have been faked and reproduced around the world.

“KAWS represents someone who is very much of our time in terms of working across contexts and in hybrid and collaborative ways, and his work presents an antidote or rejoinder to the increasingly toxic nature of public discourse and social media, and division within and across societies. He reminds us we need one another and that life should be lived as compassionately as possible to combat this ‘Age of Loneliness’, in the face of fear and hatred.”

This exhibitions follows his recent solo presentations at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (2016), the Yuz Museum Shanghai and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2017), Skarstedt Gallery in New York City (2018) and the Hong Kong Contemporary Art Foundation (2019).

Get tickets and keep up to date on the Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/2323121401275171/

Grab yourself a ticket and join up with a guided tour if that’s your thing
Wed & Sun, 11.30am
Meet: Guides meeting point, Ground level, NGV Australia

Coinciding with KAWS: Companionship in the Age of Loneliness, the NGV will also have a free event called KAWS: PLAYTIME

“KAWS has created a playful exhibition for children that illuminates the artist’s methods of working and creative approaches to imagery sourced from popular culture, toy production and collectables. The exhibition design features references to KAWS’s character BFF, including his trademark criss-cross eyes and plush royal blue fur.”

Both events will run

20 Sep 2019 – 13 Apr 2020
NGV International Ground Level
Open 10am–5pm daily

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/kaws/