Places &Things

PLACES & THINGS MAKING IT UP IN THE AIR Hired by the sort of luxury brands he once defaced, former graffiti artist KAWS found international fame as a painter and toy maker— and now one of his iconic characters is joining the ranks of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade BY HOWIE KAHN PHOTOGRAPHY by ANDREW ROWAT BRIAN DONNELLY, THE 37-YEAR-OLD PAINTER, designer and master collaborator who goes by the handle KAWS—a name he began tagging on walls, billboards and trains as a teenager in his hometown of Jersey City, New Jersey, because, he says, he liked how those letters looked together—has, for perhaps too long now, been tagged as a street artist. Donnelly certainly got his start that way. Long before he could sell a group of paintings for $315,000, as he did earlier this year at the Paris- based Galerie Perrotin’s inaugural Asian show in Hong Kong, or float an enormous balloon of his own design in this month’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade—an honor previously bestowed on only four other living artists (Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Tom Otterness and Tim Burton)—Donnelly toiled in grittier territory. His work was no less public. In the 1990s, he put his elaborate KAWS signature on roadside with no brush strokes, clean and unobtrusive, as if it was part of the MAIDEN VOYAGE ads and across the lengths of Union Pacific freight cars. Beginning ad.” Rather than being vilified, Donnelly was rewarded. Realizing The Macy’s balloon version of Companion, in ’96, Donnelly would break into bus-stop and phone-booth poster that powerful creative direction could come from the street, major one of Donnelly’s cases, lift the ads—a glossy Calvin Klein underwear–clad Christy brands responded to Donnelly by commissioning more art. “In the recurring characters, photographed during Turlington, for example—and take them back to his studio, where beginning,” says Donnelly, “I thought if a company came calling, it a test flight in Sioux he would touch them up with Chromacolour paint, editorializing would be with a lawsuit.” Falls, South Dakota. over the existing message with characters that quickly became rec- Under the KAWS banner, Donnelly has designed an album cover ognizable on the street as his own. Donnelly’s subversive approach for Kanye West and detailed a Porsche for Pharrell Williams, who had an insider’s motive: “I wanted people to think what I did was admits to being a KAWS obsessive. (“I can’t even count how many part of the ad campaign,” he said in a 2004 interview. “I painted pieces I have,” he says.) Other commissions have found Donnelly 53 P M 54 That’s ever. experience worst would be the “That Donnelly. says fied,” bemorti I’d meandstare, amillionpeoplepass and have all day sitthere God,ifIhadto thinking, “Iwas eyes. its slightly andcovering position,hunched posesinaseated thefigure andbrown, white gray, Painted hotel. Standard York’s ofNew outside 2010 and,later, HarbourCityin upinHongKong’s went version steel A16-foot ture. sculp andamonumental ithas been bothatoy In thepastdecade, thanmocking. and knowing intimate seemedmore thegesture interventions, Aswithhisadvertising gloves. ably Disneyesque andtherecogniz theeyes slashedover Xs were ahead.There for andcrossbones skull oversize satan shoulders vinyl its andatop arms akimbo, andbent, bodybulged Companion.Its name was Its justmadeabuildingor boat.” likeI’d it was head, butinmy eightinchestall, itwas first toy, makingthat After into. get to Iwanted a world just andit’s doing, they were editions these all Westermann, andH.C. ing atClaesOldenburg look andIwas dosculpture, to wanted always ButI in3-D. work mademy never “I’d Donnelly, says “Whentheideafirst up,” came Hunter. Bounty linecalled collectible with aJapanese figurinein1999collaboration limited-edition hisfirst Donnellyissued they selloutsofast.” “because Donnelly, says mail,” hate “I get ontheInternet. of hours which alsoselloutinamatter releases, KAWS new lineupfor collectors has aflagship store, OriginalFake, hisclothingline, where InTokyo, maker. a toy as with acultfollowing artist world-renowned a he’s that fact ofallsizes. withsculpture hisconcern for Murakami Takashi to and collaborations hisprolific for Andy Warhol 3)likenstheartistto onNovember inParis, Galerie Perrotin, opensat exhibition KAWS (thelatest gallerist Donnelly’s Perrotin, Emmanuel andabstract. fragmented increasingly become that’s avisuallanguage SquarePants—in SpongeBob Simpsons, ters—the charac popularcartoon reimagines ofanimation,thework palette Ampinguptheplayfully saturated Imagists. tic styleoftheChicago thesurrealis thatnodto canvases large-scale producing painter, contemporary asa hasearnedacclaim KAWS recently, More flats. Jacobs pairofMarc alimited-edition to touches his signature andapplying wallets des Garçons Comme on printing graphics AKING I LACES & THINGS & LACES NOVEM “Companion has been a recurring character for me,” says Donnelly. Donnelly. says me,” for character recurring “Companion hasbeena isthe Macy’s What makesDonnellyuniquelyappealingto T B ER 2012 - - - - - - “I thoughtifa “I thebeginning,” “In K P J 1999 Clockwise from top left top Clockwise from CH KAW booth intervention booth iminy-Cricket and iminy-Cricket be with a lawsuit.” be withalawsuit.” calling, it would itwould calling, came company says Donnelly, Donnelly, says inocchio impsons #2 A ; R S graffiti Companion A CTER STUDIES , 2010 , , 2004 1995 ; phone- , 2006 , ; . : ; CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEft: KAWS, 1995, FREIGHT TRAIN, NEW JERSEY; UNTITLED (CALVIN KLEIN), 1999, PHONE-BOOTH INTERVENTION, SILK scREEN ON MYLAR, 50” x 26” IN, NEW YORK; KAWS (ORIGINAL FAKE) COMPANION, 2006, VINYL, 14 1/2” x 6” x 4”, BROWN COLORWAY; KIMPSONS #2, 2004, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS; 80” x 80”, COLLEctION OF NIGO; JIMINY-CRICKET AND PINOccHIO (DESIGNED BY KAWS)-ORIGINAL FAKE, 2010, VINYL, 2 1/3” x 1/2” x 1” aND 10 1/2” x 5” x 5” PLACES & THINGS MAKING IT BRIGHT IDEAS Donnelly at his studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The character at left is CHUM, 2012. IN T ERRO P ALERIE G : Y S E T S COUR KAW where the pose came from.” A variation on that Companion will fly on balloon.” More than 30 people have worked on the balloon over a Thanksgiving. “I think this is a first for the parade,” says Macy’s lead “I get hate period of roughly seven months, including those in Sioux Falls who designer, John Piper, standing in a roomful of brightly colored clay mail,” says hand-painted every inch. “Brian came in and made some revisions prototypes at Macy’s 75,000-square-foot parade studio in New Jersey. on the model,” says Piper, “on the ears and also on the Xs on the OVER PANEL 84” x 68” ©2012 x 1 3/4” S “It’s the first time we’ve had a character that’s shy.” Donnelly hands and the eyes.” In August, instructions for inflating the bal- ANVA Parade executives approached Donnelly a couple of years ago, and about his loon were already sitting beneath the model, which was suspended C the 40-foot-long balloon, made from urethane-coated nylon, has been by aircraft cable from a cane-shaped model stand. Points of inflation ON new KAWS C in process ever since. “It’s exactly like making a toy or a sculpture,” says were all mapped out. The final steps read: “Allow head to rise” and RYLI Donnelly. “I give them drawings. From that, they make a clay sculpture. releases, “Fly KAWS tipped at about a 45-degree angle.” It brought to mind an Ac 2012 I adjust it. We get it to a point where it looks right. If it looks good image of an artist literally lifting off the ground and ascending. “It’s , 7) “because A as a model, it should look good scaled up. I give the color directions definitely the most massive piece I’ve ever done,” says Donnelly. C K ( and then a seamstress makes the patterning for the balloon.” It took they sell “It’s hard to take an artist who has international recognition and M HU six tries to get the coloring right. “Brian’s colors are not the industry- find some way to put them in awe,” says Piper, who has been with C ; standard Pantone colors,” says Piper. “Mixing these very subtle shades out so fast.” the parade for 32 years. “But when they see their balloon, suddenly, T OWA of grays and browns was the big challenge with his balloon.” they’re a kid just like everyone else: When Murakami came, he did a R While the models were first cast and the paint was first mixed whole blessing with rice and wine over the balloons while they were REW D N in New Jersey, the actual balloon was manufactured in Sioux Falls, being inflated; Tim Burton was speechless. Even with somebody A BY South Dakota, with the help of a 3-D scanning program and a special who works in the field and understands scale, renderings and mod- T RAI machine that seals urethane panels. “It’ll hold about 4,500 cubic els, when they’re finally next to their creation, in the form of a real T OR feet of helium,” says Piper. “That’s considered a medium-sized Macy’s balloon, it always takes their breath away.” P 56 NOVEMBER 2012.

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