KAWS (artist)

Kaws
Born	Brian Donnelly 1974 Jersey City, New Jersey
Nationality	American
Education	School of Visual Arts
Known for	Painting, graphic design, sculpture, graffiti

Brian Donnelly (born 1974) – professionally known as Kaws (usually written KAWS) – is a pop artist and designer. His work includes repeated use of a cast of figurative characters and motifs, some dating back to the beginning of his career in the 1990s, initially painted in 2D and later realised in 3D. Some of his characters are his own creation whilst others are reworked versions of existing icons.

He began as a graffiti artist, moving on to subvertising, and now makes sculpture, acrylic paintings on canvas and screen prints. He also collaborates commercially, predominantly on small edition toys (for example 2 or 8 inch tall figures), and also clothing, skate decks and other products.

Kaws sculpture ranges in size from small to ten metres tall, and are made from various materials including fibreglass, aluminium, wood and bronze.

His work is exhibited in galleries and museums, held in the permanent collections of public institutions, and avidly collected by individuals. A number of books illustrating his work have been published. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Donnelly was born in 1974 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration in 1996. After graduation, he briefly worked for Jumbo Pictures as a freelance animator painting backgrounds for animated series 101 Dalmatians, Daria and Doug.

Donnelly began as a graffiti artist growing up in Jersey City, using the name Kaws. After moving to New York City in the 1990s, he started subvertising billboards, bus shelters and phone booths. He has also subvertised in Paris, London, Berlin and Tokyo.

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