Former graffiti artist has museum status

Friday, July 02, 2010
By ADAM ROBB
FOR THE JERSEY JOURNAL

It was 97 degrees in Ridgefield, Conn. Sunday afternoon when friends of KAWS arrived at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

They disembarked a bus chartered by the artist - Jersey City native Brian Donnelly - waving pink and green fans in the shape of his iconic skull design. Marching down the hot pavement of a parking lot already at capacity, the artist's acquaintances entered galleries packed with dedicated fans armed with vinyl toys, stuffed animals and unblemished sneakers all still in their original packaging, all awaiting the artist's signature.

The capital letters K-A-W-S that Donnelly once anonymously scrawled on rooftops, bus stops and billboards in Jersey City and Manhattan are now a prized commodity.

Coming off the Turnpike, motorists can still see his very early "work." Stare long enough and you'll notice his faded white graffiti tagged along the top floors of some surrounding factories, including on two sides of a rooftop at 13th and Coles.

Donnelly painted it there in the early 1990s so it would be visible from his classroom window at nearby St. Anthony High School. After studying art at St. Peter's College in his teens, Donnelly furthered his education at New York's School of Visual Arts, and over the last 15 years he's gone from defacing bus stop advertisements to displaying paintings at galleries.

Scores of fans crowded beneath his largest work to date at the museum Sunday - a double height mural of a segmented and abstracted SpongeBob SquarePants - waiting for the courage or the opening to approach the artist with a pen in hand. The mural is rooted in graffiti but far less instantaneous.

"Absolutely, it's connected," Donnelly, 36, said. "My joints hurt, I've been on scaffolding for two weeks."

Since the mural's completion, the Aldrich had kept the piece under wraps, the first image from the show released late last week.

As a teenager, though, Donnelly was quick to share his newest creations. "I told them all the time," Donnelly said when asked if he told his parents when he tagged the neighborhood walls. "My mom would be upset about it but then my grandmother would say, 'You shouldn't be.'"

The Wooster Collective

The Wooster Collective was founded in 2001 and is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating "ephemeral art" (their words, not mine) placed on streets in cities around the world.

While the debate will go on forever on whether this kind of work is illegal damage to public property or true art, this site is an incredible source for interesting and occasionally delightful and inspiring work from around the world.

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+1 except change "property owners" to "people"

On the same topic of graffiti, check out this article on how Shepard fairy is a big hypocrite:
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A59932

GRAFFITI: AVANT-GARDE ART?

Spray-can artists find their skills in high demand, as graffiti stealthy routes to wealth

By Suzanne Wexler,
Montreal Gazette
April 14, 2009

It's been sprayed on trains and scrawled across skyscrapers. This year, it was even splattered on Louis Vuitton handbags.

When, exactly, did graffiti get so glamorous?

Painters like Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) and Keith Haring (1958-1990) first brought graffiti into the avant-garde art world during the '80s, though both passed away as their careers were launching.

Today, second generation vandals-turned-artists are earning critical respect and commercial success in the worlds of art and fashion in Canada and worldwide, leaving many hooligans with trickster smiles on their faces.

One by the name of Banksy (b. 1974) from the U.K. fetches up to $500,000 for his graffiti-inspired artwork. His pieces include a reproduction of Andy Warhol's portrait of Marilyn Monroe, but using Kate Moss's image instead; another piece features a live elephant painted like wallpaper. Despite his successful tongue-in-cheek gallery work, Banksy continues to post his graffiti all over the world in places like New Orleans, London and Israel. He keeps his identity secret to evade police and border patrols.

KAWS, born in 1974 in Jersey City, earned street-status by reworking advertisements, oftentimes in bus shelters, in New York City, Paris, Berlin and Tokyo. Now he's a full time artist and toy designer.

KAWS ? who still goes by his tag name ? is known for replacing his character's eyes with a scull-and-crossbones- style "x," typically on popular cartoon figures like The Smurfs and The Simpsons. Dubbed the next Jeff Koons, KAWS's cartoon-style gallery pieces sell for between $10,000 and $85,000. The artist also boasts collaborations with Nike, Vans and fashion label Comme des Garcon.

Then there's Shepard Fairey, born in 1970 in Charleston, S.C., a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His graffiti prestige was established with his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" sticker-bombing campaign, which culminated in tens of thousands of his comical stickers posted throughout the eastern U.S. Fairey's motivation was simply to get a rise out of viewers and to battle for public space with advertisers.

In January, Fairey became a legend when his red, white and blue Obama HOPE poster entered the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, proving to be an iconic image during the presidential candidate's campaign run. Not afraid to use his real name, Fairey's artwork is now showing at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Boston through Aug. 16. This spring, you can also carry one of his limited-edition shopping bags home from Saks Fifth Avenue in the U.S.

In Canada, too, former vandals are making impressive careers out of their youthful pastime.

Toronto-based SKAM uses his tag name for business purposes. His interlocking letters scrawled around the city earned him underground fame; now he commands $1,000 and up for his graffiti-style commission work.

"I never thought I'd make money off it, but graffiti led to things. It even opened the door to my shop," SKAM says.

His cult sneaker boutique is part of the Livestock chain of shops. Word of SKAM's talent made its way to Louis Vuitton, which recruited him to spray-paint a mural during a collection launch at its Bloor St. store in Toronto.

The hip Vuitton collection is a tribute to the designer Stephen Sprouse (1953-2004), who pioneered the graffiti-fashion look during the '80s but never achieved financial success in his lifetime, though he was a frequent collaborator with Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs. The collection consists of purses, scarves and stilettos tagged with Sprouse's neon signature.

Graffiti gurus are shimmying their way into Canadian galleries as well.

Jean Labourdette, a.k.a. Turf One, is a well-known Parisian graffiti artist now living in Montreal. On the streets, Turf One is recognized for his characters, but his indoor artwork is represented by Yves Laroche Gallery in Old Montreal. It is known for painterly precision and century-old, circus side-show depictions.

"Jean is huge in Europe," Yves Laroche says. The latest issue of a Paris-based magazine called Graffiti All-Stars has a 10-page spread on the artist. "His signature is very unique. His inner desires are assimilated into his work, and the effects touch people."

Last December, Labourdette, who signs his artwork with his graffiti name, accompanied Laroche to the exclusive Art Basel Miami Beach show.

The yearly Basel event boasts work from top art and design galleries across the world, featuring pieces by legends and newcomers. For Laroche, the Basel's invitation marked passage into the global marketplace.

Other Canadian graffiti writers have traded their spray-cans for graphic design work. Vancouver-based artist Tim Barnard designs graffiti T-shirts with the Montreal company Evil Bad. Tag-named artist Labrona from Montreal paints graphics on skateboards to help support his artwork, which is carried at the Show & Tell gallery in Toronto.

Graffiti has fought its way to the top.

A symbol of youth and music culture, graffiti is one of the four elements of hip-hop ? along with DJing, emceeing and breaking (the form of dance). It first appeared on the New York subways in the 1970s, representing a form of public art, similar to the Mexican murals painted by Diego Rivera or Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. Except with graffiti no one but the artist is commissioning the work; rather, seizing public space through vandal drawing is the central motivation.

Paul Labonte, a.k.a. Paul 107, a Montreal author of the graffiti book All City: The Book About Taking Space, points out that while "graffiti is vandalism," most taggers still have standards. Cars, houses, building facades are usually off-limits, while trains and abandoned buildings remain hot spots.

Dodging police and inventing code-names is part of the fun. Writing your name in wacky and daring places earns "fame" in graffiti-speak.

He explains that the act of vandalism "is a rite of passage for, like, 11- to 17-year- olds." Though, he says, some people, like Banksy still practice in adulthood. "Older New York graffiti books call it 'a youthful tradition passed on from one generation to another' ? that's basically what it is."

Labonte explains that graffiti is about the love of typography ? the way the letters look side-by-side. "It takes 10 seconds to execute, but what people don't realize is that it took the kid ? I can't even begin to count ? how may hours of writing his name on a piece of paper until he figures out how the letters are going to interlock," he says.

Since the '80s, graffiti has become a pastime for youths across the world, in cities and in suburbs. The triumph of hip-hop artists like Kanye West and Jay-Z have also helped to bolster the image of graffiti artists: If emcees and DJs can earn bling, driving around in Rolls Royces and chartering private jets, why not their painterly crew members, too?

SKAM is one of those diehards who still practices graffiti as an adult, watching the dollars roll in. Devoted to the sub-culture, SKAM used to be part of a b-boy dance crew called Bag of Trix.

"In '94-'95, I went to New York and painted all over there ? in Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens. They thought I was from there," he says.

Now living in Toronto, SKAM was honoured to be contacted by Vuitton. "I have no idea how they heard about me. They might have just Googled me. It was amazing."

Labonte says that nowadays, fashion companies like Nike and Vuitton, which regularly reach out to youth culture, tend to know true graffiti talent from amateurs. "SKAM does all those MuchMusic RapCity backgrounds. He's a real graffiti guy."

SKAM's elaborate neon murals have also earned him commissions with Hugo Boss, MAC Cosmetics, Coors Light, Miller Lite, MCA Records, EMI Records, Adidas, Reebok and Nike. Because of his sneaker boutique Livestock, he's hired by a lot of footwear companies.

"Now I'm doing a SKAM bathroom for someone. I've done it all, basically. There's nothing I haven't done."

Indeed, SKAM will not only paint on-ramps neon, but he'll make any room in your home look like a lost subway car ? for a price.

Yet, SKAM remains true to his vandal roots.

"KAWS used to do graffiti, but now he does galleries," SKAM says, comparing himself to now-famous x-eye toy designer. "He takes his images from the street and puts them on canvases. But he's not a graffiti artist anymore. I still go under bridges and do graffiti. I still use spray paint. It's not the same thing."

Like KAWS, many graffiti artists have moved beyond the sub-culture.

A Quebecer named Zilon was the first graffiti-style artist gallery owner Yves LaRoche took under his wing in 1998. Renowned mostly in Quebec, Zilon's gory gesture portraits have been bought by local bigwigs, including Cirque du Soleil executives and Grand-Prix racers.

"It was Zilon who helped me, personally, work with this genre of artist," says Laroche.

Today, the gallery represents several Pop Surrealist artists ? part of a new art movement dubbed "Lowbrow" by hipster art magazines like Juxtapoz and Hi Fructose. Boasting underground spray-paint, hip-hop, tattoo and comic-book sensibility at its core, the Yves Laroche gallery also sells prints, literature and collectible toys that go along with the movement.

In 2008, Laroche was asked to be part of an exhibition at the Art Basel Miami Beach. He brought a few artists along, including his younger Pop Surrealist painter Turf One. In-the-know Basel buyers were interested.

Laroche says that while Turf One's prices are still around $5,500 for an original, in two years that figure should double, minimum. Maximum? "Sky's the limit," he beams, acknowledging that the economic crisis could delay that rise.

Today, vandal-turned-artist Jean Labourdette works in his studio six days a week. He explains his graffiti-inspired abandoned-spaces technique: "Around '93, I went to abandoned houses and painted life-size characters, playing with the architecture," he says.

To tell a story, he used the old walls, the rotten wood. "Then gradually, I wanted to bring those places to my space and I started collecting them. Then I started painting on them."

Old doors, window frames and abandoned objects soon became Labourdette's uniquely shaped canvasses.

Turf One has stuck with acrylic paint (same as spray) throughout the years, managing to convey oil-like details in his somber yet tongue-in-cheek circus side-show depictions.

A recent self-portrait work titled "Jean qui rit, Jean qui pleure," is painted on wooden shutters pried open, with a midget with two heads placed on a surface in the centre. One head looks up, smiling and releasing a white bird; the other has his hand pressed against his forehead, saddened at the sight of the dead bird. At the top of the frame is a third-eye, observing the scene.

Another Turf One work, "Nail Here" also depicts a dark, somber and slightly hilarious freak-show through the glimpse of a window frame. In this one, a wistful bearded midget character in a suit is prying open his jacket to reveal a heart-shaped tattoo on his chest ? presumably where the nail in the title is supposed to go.

Labourdette has been compared to the Flemish greats such as Rembrandt for his attention to detail. His lucid dreamlike subject matter is reminiscent of Surrealists like Max Ernst (1891-1976). Labourdette's sense of humour, however, has graffiti defiance at its core.

While he believes his art has progressed since his vandal days, Labourdette says graffiti taught him to be crowd-pleasing ? an essential element of success in today's multimedia outlets. "In graffiti, people were actually judging what I was doing. It pushed me to make my work go farther."
? Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

http://www.geringlopez.com/exhibitions/2008-11-06_kaws/
http://blog.theartcollectors.com/2009 ... ws-on-cbs-sunday-morning/
http://citynoise.org/article/8405
http://www.litwack.org/articles/kaws/
http://thelifevicarious.typepad.com/t ... -kaws-nike-255-81008.html
http://thelifevicarious.typepad.com/t ... -after-you-read-this.html
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KAWS/47448092882

his art is selling in the 100's of thousands of dollars. it ISN't Graffiti anymore.

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If he did \"show\" it wouldn\'t be graffiti anymore.

i remember the old sea kaws tags on a building near newport that was demolished in 1997 or so... i was always intrigued by the tags near the roof of the building for some reason. i guess this all explains it.

for what it's worth, i asked KAWS to participate in my group art show that took place in October, and he declined. I thought it would have been fun for him to show in the town he grew up in.

without sounding like i am being condescending, i think he just got too big for his own hometown.

Thanks for the CBS link, GrovePath.

I find that a facile and nonsensical distinction. Even as a kid, I could never understand the joy that others would take in destroying someone else's things -- whether it be slashing tires, keying a car, or grafitti. It's a petty power trip the people have something real in their lives don't do.

Here is the CBS Sunday Morning link
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/08/sunday/main4783448.shtml

Here is also their piece on Banksy
http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2008/ ... l/photoessay3715918.shtml

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Never before JC-List have I noticed this renters vs. owners dynamic. I understand that property owners might feel more troubled by tagging in their area or especially on their buildings, but do you really think that those who rent apartments feel disenfranchised, inadequate, and angry? That is really weird to me. What if they rent a penthouse on the upper East side? Still disenfranchised? And thus still able to appreciate graffiti?

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Responsible property owners recognize this as the vandalism that it is.

The bitter renters respond to the expression of their own disenfranchisement, inadequacy and anger, calling it art.

That's not to say that the vandal isn't talented.

Am I the only one that still sees this as vandalism?

props to kaws... he's been around for awhile... good to see him getting press for his skills and creativity... you can see his old graff art throughout jc... around dickinson and on marin/bay st at the old gas station...

I've been told there's some first class graffiti inside that building, but I've seen it myself. Also around the corner:

Quote: That's the one, stc4blues.

His huge tag SEA KAWS has been visible for about 15 years now on the old warehouse next to the old Coliseum club as you approach the Holland Tunnel form the Turnpike.

Who would have thunk that we have another Banksy?

saw the spot on tv was really interesting
JC's new favorite son
but he lives in brooklyn

Jersey City Graffiti artist KAWS on CBS Sunday Morning today


Who is Kaws?
His real name is Brian Donnelly; he?s from Jersey City, born in 1974. A picture of Brian Donnelly AKA Kaws.He attended New York?s School of Visual Arts and worked for Disney as a freelance animator after graduation. I met him last year at a rare personal appearance at Undefeated LA - the place was beyond packed, and he seemed nervous and shy. If I were to sum him up in a sentance, it would be ?Kaws is a major figure in the movement of underground graffiti culture to the mainstream of gallery art and commercial absorption that began with Jean-Michel Basquiat,? which is true, but doesn?t say anything about the content of his work, or why it?s so magnetic.

The CBS logline goes as follows:
ART: Graffiti Artist ?KAWS?
He?s one of the hottest names in the art world ? and he has an unusual name to be sure, KAWS. After making his name in the graffiti world in the 1990s in Jersey City, KAWS left that life behind and started to paint canvases and design products. With his bright colors and clean, crisp lines, his work is perfection to many fans. Many musicians have taken note: Hip-Hip mogul Pharrell Williams has filled his Miami home with KAWS? work. Kanye West asked KAWS for colorful designs for his latest album cover.

Working from a small Brooklyn studio, the shy 34-year-old has also created products with massive brands, including Nike, Lucasfilm and Marc Jacobs. KAWS? rising star has now led to high-profile solo shows in art galleries in New York, Miami, and an upcoming show in Los Angeles. KAWS talks to correspondent Serena Altschul and steps out of his studio to meet the fans.

http://www.honorfraser.com/?s=upcoming
http://www.geringlopez.com/exhibitions/2008-11-06_kaws/
http://blog.theartcollectors.com/2009 ... ws-on-cbs-sunday-morning/
http://citynoise.org/article/8405
http://www.litwack.org/articles/kaws/
http://thelifevicarious.typepad.com/t ... -kaws-nike-255-81008.html
http://thelifevicarious.typepad.com/t ... -after-you-read-this.html
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KAWS/47448092882