KAWS @ PAFA (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts)

Those of you who haven't come across New Jersey artist KAWS before, will at least recognise the iconic pop culture characters he transforms into playful works of art; with a portfolio that includes reworks of Mickey Mouse, SpongeBob Squarepants, and The Simpsons (pictured) to name a few.

Starting his career as a graffiti artist, KAWS gained huge populatiry by subverting advertisements on billboards etc. in New York.  He then started to design and produce limited edition vinyl toys, which lead to a toy and clothing collaboration with Original Fake.  Since then KAWS has participated in a number of high profile collaborations including with Nigo for A Bathing Ape, Jun "Junio" Takhashi for Undercover, Michael "Mic" Neumann for Kung Faux, snowboard projects with Burton, and trainers with Nike and Vans.

This weekend saw the opening of his highly anticipated exhibition at the Pennsylvania Acadamy of Fine Art, featuring 70 of his paintings and sculptures, both old and new.  Here's some photos from the show, particularly impressive how he's managed to seamlessly integrate his modern pop culture style pieces into the historic space that is PAFA.  Would be awesome to have first hand experience of this!

Source: Arrested Motion