Making his Canadian museum debut, Brooklyn-based artist Brian Donnelly (1974), better known as KAWS, bridges the worlds of art, popular culture and commerce with sophisticated humour and insightful appropriation. Renowned for his larger-than-life sculptures of cartoon-inspired characters and exuberant hard-edge paintings that playfully emphasize line and colour, much like 1960s Pop artists, he blurs the boundaries between populist and elite art, bringing mass media imagery into traditional art spaces.  Straddling the world of art and design, KAWS has forged a large international following both inside and outside the art world.  

Members Access starts September 27 (staff and volunteers can visit now!)
Annual Pass Access starts October 4
General Admission starts October 11

If you haven’t watched it yet, our KAWS: Family launch meeting gives a good overview of the main messages of the exhibition; you can watch it here:

https://artcloud.ago.ca/index.php/s/9GiGdmLs9MKxrTK

Important notes for viewing:

• The video takes a moment to get started, so be patient – you will hear the voice of Melissa Ramage, Project Manager, begin about 20 seconds after the video starts.
• Full recording is about 50 minutes.
• You will be asked for a password in order to view the video. The password is: KawsFam@AGO!
• Please copy and paste the password, or, if you type it in yourself, make sure you enter the password exactly as it reads (note capital letters, exclamation mark etc.)

I’m so looking forward to hearing what you think about the show! On opening day, the real phenomenon for me was seeing the Retail shop swarmed with KAWS collectors – already, the small figurine/action figures we had in limited quantity have all sold out!