KAWS: Art & Comix [English Edition] - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3791392018 ISBN 13: 9783791392011

Verlag: Prestel Verlag, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

KAWS. Art & Comic explores the interplay between comics, comic strips, cartoons, and fine art.

This publication places the American artist KAWS in dialog with selected contemporary stances with a focus on the artistic autonomy of his characters, who unite characteristics of street, pop, commercial, and public art.

Comics are characterized by a universal language and exist in many cultures as an accessible way of telling stories graphically, in words and images. Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ad Reinhardt, and Kerry James Marshall were fine artists who created comics in a near-classic vein. And even prior to the advent of photography and (animated) films, caricature, satire, and frame-by-frame narration represented an attractive way in which stories could be conveyed―transcending boundaries both national and otherwise, addressing all age groups and social strata. Starting in the 1960s, artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, and Keith Haring questioned the distinction between high and low art in a radical manner. Prominent contemporary stances of a similar bent range from KAWS and Joyce Pensato to Nicole Eisenman and on to Peter Saul.

KAWS started out as a graffiti artist during the 1990s, whose practice evolved to overpainting posters and advertisements displayed in public; in doing so, his trademark strategy was to cover the models’ faces with a stylized skull and crossbones. He is especially well known for his larger-than-life figurative sculptures― frequently realized in varied materials from bronze, to wood, to inflatables―in the public realm. His COMPANIONs and ACCOMPLICEs, as he calls some of them, exhibit self-confident, shy, or sad demeanors. Sometimes they hug each other and other times they just sit there alone, covering their faces with their hands as if ashamed. They frequently appear alone, isolated and melancholy, though one also encounters them in groups or even as families.

Comic characters will be seen throughout this publication as leitmotifs, including in works by contemporary artists such as the Pink Panther paintings of Katherine Bernhardt, the ceramic figures of Venezuelan artist Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, and Isolde Maria Joham’s paintings inspired by Asian manga culture: these artists go beyond employing the world of comics as a mere reference, examining specific characters and their physical dispositions through their portrayal, through the depiction of their physiognomy, and through their gestures and motions.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Ralph Gleis is Director General of The ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna.

Angela Stief is Director of the Albertina Modern and Chief Curator for Contemporary Art from 1945 at the ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna.

Florian Waldvogel is Head of the Modern Collection at the Tiroler Landesmuseum, Innsbruck.

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A wide-ranging exploration of comics, characters, and the visual language of KAWS and his contemporaries.

KAWS. Art & Comics explores the interplay between comics, comic strips, cartoons, and fine art. It places the American artist KAWS in dialog with selected contemporary stances, focusing on the artistic autonomy of his characters-figures that unite characteristics of street, pop, commercial, and public art. Comics are characterized by a universal language and exist in many cultures as an accessible way of telling stories graphically, in words and images. Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ad Reinhardt were fine artists who created comics in a near-classic vein. Even before the advent of photography and (animated) films, caricature, satire, and frame-by-frame narration offered a powerful way to convey stories across national, generational, and social boundaries.

From the 1960s onward, artists such as Keith Haring and H.C. Westermann questioned the division between high and low art. Prominent contemporary artists in this tradition include KAWS, Joyce Pensato, Cosima von Bonin, and Peter Saul. KAWS began as a graffiti artist in the 1990s, later overpainting posters and advertisements in public spaces by obscuring faces with a stylized skull and crossbones.

He is known for monumental figurative sculptures in bronze, wood, and inflatables. His COMPANIONs and ACCOMPLICEs display a range of emotional states, often isolated and melancholy.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Prestel Verlag
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 3791392018
• ISBN 13: 9783791392011
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 240
• Herausgeber: Gleis Ralph, Stief Angela, Waldvogel Florian
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe GmbH; produktsicherheit@penguinrandomhouse.de; ; Neumarkter Straße 28; München; 81673; Deutschland