Art@Site www.artatsite.com  Kaws Waiting Detroit
Artist:

Kaws

Title:

Waiting

Year:
2018
Adress:
Campus Martius
Website:
focused together
Their ponytails tell that we see two girls. Pretty faces with forward standing teeth. They are cool (with their short and their robust shoes) en made looking beautiful (looking at their gloves).
They are self-involved; they see no need to open their eyes. The big girl is mum, the small girl is child. The hand of mum is laying on the shoulder of her child.
Relaxed and focused on the same object they have their faces forward. They have agreed on the approach and they are going to make it together. At any moment they can come into action.
Kaws is pointing on actual themes like individualism, generation gap, lonelyness. He shows how it feels to be focused together, to help each other, to feel a warm relationship between parent and child.
By Theo, www.artatsite.com

Vertaling
samen gefocust
Aan de staartjes zie je dat dit twee meisjes zijn. Lieve snoetjes met vooruit stekende tanden. Ze zijn stoer (met hun korte broek en hun stevige schoenen) en toch hebben zij zich ook mooi gemaakt (dat zie je aan hun handschoenen).
Ze zijn met zichzelf bezig; ze vinden het niet nodig om hun ogen te openen. Het grote meisje is moeder, het kleine meisje is kind. Moeder legt haar hand op de schouder van kind.
Ontspannen en op hetzelfde gefocust kijken ze voor zich uit. Ze zijn het eens over de aanpak en gaan het samen maken. Op elk moment kunnen zij in actie komen.
Kaws haalt actuele thema’s aan zoals individualisering, generatiekloof, eenzaamheid. Hij toont hoe het voelt om samen gefocust zijn, elkaar te helpen, een warme band te voelen tussen ouder en kind.
Door Theo, www.artatsite.com

www.architecturaldigest.com:
Kaws: 'I hope when people pass the sculpture, it takes them out of their routine commute and leads them to new thoughts and puts them in touch with their surroundings in a new way.'

www.architecturaldigest.com:
The developers hope the unique sculpture helps to bring the community together. 'Public art can become a unique focal point for a community, drawing people together through moments of shared enjoyment and thought-provoking discussion,'

www.eu.freep.com:
From a distance, says Burkard, it looks like Mickey Mouse — 'the gloved hands, the feet and the goofy shorts' — but once he got closer, his interpretation changed.
'It looks like a mother and daughter because I thought it was a women’s hair but it’s actually skull and crossbones,' says Burkard. 'It’s interesting.'
Created by Brooklyn-based artist Brian Donnelly under the alias Kaws, the statue features two figures known as 'Companion' — a recurring chaesents the process of growing up and often reflects personal aspects pulled from the artist’s own life.

www.ngv.vic.gov.au:
Kaws: Companionship in the age of loneliness.
His work is infused with humour, humanity and an acute sense of the precariousness of our times. The work of KAWS reminds us that we need one another, and that in the face of fear and hatred we should aim to live as compassionately as possible to combat this 'age of loneliness'.

www.christies.com:
His origins in graffiti brought his work to a diverse audience, many of whom had nothing to do with the art world. Unlike most artists, KAWS did not start out with a gallery; he was fully aware of the benefits of showing his work in the street and mass-producing pieces in order to build a following. This following became so big that it attracted the attention of collectors and crieaking of his early days as a graffiti artist, Donnelly said, 'When I was doing graffiti, my whole thought was, 'I just want to exist.' I wa to exist with this visual language in the world' It meant nothing to me to make paintings if I wasn't reaching people.'
In 1999 KAWS visited Japan after being approached by Bounty Hunter, the cult toy and streetwear brand. He would go on to create his first toy, 'Compagnion'.
Described by curator and art historian Michael Auping as '[Clement] Greenberg's worst nightmare', KAWS is seen as the enfant terrible of the New York art world. Many have compared him to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, whose own inimitable styles started out on the street, as well as Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, who both had an instinctive understanding of the possibilities of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.
KAWS has name-checked his influences, which vary from Claes Oldenburg and Tom Wesselman to Takashi Murakami, the latter in terms of what the cceptance and crossover projects'.
In 2012 a KAWS COMPANION balloon was seen floating down the streets of Manhattan as part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, its XX eyes covered by large gloved hands. Its appearance alongside characters as Mickey Mouse and Sonic the Hedgehog provided further proof of KAWS' ability to transform art into a spectacle for mass consumption.
'No cartoon is safe from being consumed and turned into KAWS,' says Christie's associate specialist Noah Davis. The artist is known for subverting iconic cartoon heroes and in doing so he demonstrates his interest in the characters' universal cultural value, reinforcing the idea that he makes no distinction between concepts of 'high' and 'low' art.

www.wikipedia.org:
Brian Donnelly (born November 4, 1974), known professionally as Kaws (stylized as KAWS), is an American artist and designer. His work includes repeated use of a cast of figurative characters and motifs, some dating back to the beginnhe 1990s, initially painted in 2D and later realized in 3D. Some of his characters are his own creations while others are reworked versions of existing icons.
Kaws' sculptures range in size from a few inches to ten meters tall, and are made from various materials including fiberglass, aluminum, wood, bronze, and a steel pontoon inflatable raft.
Kaws' influences come from traditional high art painters like Gerhard Richter, Claes Oldenburg, and Chuck Close, and he has been compared to the likes of Andy Warhol for his cross-market appeal and ability to blur lines between commercial and fine art. His work is exhibited in galleries and museums, held in the permanent collections of public institutions, and avidly collected by individuals including music producer Swizz Beatz, internet figure PewDiePie, rapper Pharrell Williams, and members of South Korean group BTS. A number of books illustrating his work have been published.
Kaws lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, creating sculptures, acrylic paintings on canvas, and screen prints while also collaborating commercially, predominantly on limited edition toys, but also clothing, skateboard decks, and other products.
Comic book artist Bill Morrison felt 'ripped off' by Kaws' 2005 work The Kaws Album because the work was simply a 'traced interpretation of my Simpsons Yellow Album' (released in 1998), which itself was a parody of the cover art for the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band replaced with characters from the Simpsons.'