Recently, my best friend and I attended the Kaws: What Party exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. We really enjoyed it and I highly recommend checking it out if you’ll be in New York City this summer. The exhibit features various paintings, sculptures, sketches, and collectibles. The art contains tons of pop culture references, from SpongeBob to The Simpsons. His use of vibrant colors, cartoonish shapes, and how he evokes emotion through his characters makes his work super fun to look at.
For those unfamiliar with Kaws, the Brooklyn-based artist’s real name is Brian Donnelly. He’s been in the game for twenty-five years and has collaborated with tons of brands, including Uniqlo, Supreme, and Dior. In 2013, Kaws was even approached by MTV to design the awards given out at the MTV Video Music Awards. In downtown Detroit, you can even find a permanent Kaws sculpture standing 17 feet tall.
“Adapting the rules of cultural production and consumption in the twenty-first century, his practice both critiques and participates in consumer culture,” according to the Brooklyn Museum website. And the exhibit allows you to explore that through more than one hundred works. With notebook graffiti drawings, large paintings, and unique sculptures, there is a bit of everything. And that’s another why I loved it so much — it really feels like a full experience.
For anyone interested in attending, the exhibit will be there until September 5. You can purchase tickets online through the museum’s website.
Here are my photos from the exhibit, in case you don’t get to see it in person:
Are you familiar with Kaws work?
Have you seen the Kaws: What Party exhibit?
