“For me, art has always been about communication,” says Brian Donnelly, whom you’ll more likely know by his graffiti tag KAWS. His story as an artist begins not in the studio, but on the street where he could speak directly to passersby. In the mid-1990s, Donnelly’s cartoon-like figures emerged across New York where he studied at the School of Visual Arts, encircling Christy Turlington in Calvin Klein adverts and forming the basis of the recurring characters in his work that include CHUM (an appropriation of the Michelin Man), COMPANION (a figure who sometimes wears Mickey Mouse shorts and gloves) and the Kimpsons (a parody of The Simpsons). 

With their instantly recognisable Xs for eyes, these characters play out in Donnelly’s graffiti drawings, paintings, smaller collectible toys, colossal sculptures and even furniture. In 2018, he worked with São Paulo-based design duo Campana Brothers to design a line of armchairs and sofas overlaid with KAWS’s soft toys that was unveiled at DesignMiami art fair and promptly snapped up by the likes of model Kylie Jenner and rapper Travis Scott.

Though often dismissed by critics, Donnelly is perhaps one of the most loved contemporary artists. Just ask his 3.2m Instagram followers or the anonymous bidder who paid $14.8m for The KAWS Album at a Sotheby’s auction in 2019 (Donnelly himself didn’t make anything from the sale due to resale royalty restrictions). What’s more, his bold and playful gestures have proven catnip for the fashion world. 

He has collaborated with the likes of A Bathing Ape, Supreme and Nike; for his debut collection at Dior Men, Kim Jones partnered with KAWS and had a 22ft-tall sculpture of his signature BFF character installed on the runway. And for her AW21 Comme des Garçons shirt collection, Rei Kawakubo drizzled shirts, coats and bags in a CDG print designed from Donnelly’s drawings. “I always liked the way people can have an intimate connection with your work through fashion,” he says. “It’s one thing to see it on a wall and another to have it a print on clothing.”

This month sees the opening of KAWS: WHAT PARTY at the Brooklyn Museum. Billed as the artist’s first major New York survey, it chronicles Donnelly’s 25-year career and showcases his recent ventures into the medium of augmented reality — enabling people from all over the world to connect with his work via the Acute Art app. Ahead of the opening, Donnelly gave Vogue a virtual tour of the exhibition, telling his story through selected pieces from the show.

UNTITLED (HARING), 1997

“My early heroes were people such as Lee Quiñones, Futura 2000 and Blade — graffiti artists from the late 1970s and early 1980s — you’d see them take a name and create a presence for themselves. I don’t consider Keith Haring to be a graffiti artist, but he fell on my radar because of his work on the street and his association with artists including DONDI. In my neighbourhood, there was a bus shelter ad for Haring’s show at the Whitney [Museum of American Art] so it was fair game. I loved his democratic approach to making art and how he made it accessible through [his store] the Pop Shop, so painting over his output felt natural.”

UNTITLED (DKNY), 1999

“I started painting over advertisements in 1993. I was living with my parents in Jersey City [New Jersey] at the time and the billboards were of Marlboro and Captain Morgan. When I moved to New York in 1996, it was more fashion, like DKNY and Calvin Klein. I’d break into bus shelters and phone booths in my neighbourhood, paint over the ads and then put them back in their place. I wasn’t looking to get into fashion, I just wanted to get my work out into the world.”

UNTITLED (KIMPSONS), PACKAGE PAINTING SERIES, 2001

“This was my go at tying my different worlds together — a painting that operates as a sculptural object, which plays into the tradition of toys. Cartoons exist across different cultures and countries; kids my age in Mexico were growing up on the same Smurfs [TV show] that I grew up with. A lot of my paintings are flat, similar to cartoons. I like the feeling this work creates when you’re in front of it, especially at the scale I work at.”

CHUM, 2008

“I originally made the CHUM character as a toy in 2002. I was thinking about how Michelin was one of the first companies to depart from the product and use a character as a representative. I’ve always been interested in how characters — whether in animation or advertising — become identifiable and relatable for people. They have a lifespan that goes well beyond an actor or personality representing a brand.”