The House of Brian

When you enter Brian Donnelly’s house, you quickly realize this is no ordinary home. The walls are full of modern art and contemporary collectibles. It is a place that inspires, where the works of art want to tell you something, even if you don’t know exactly what they are trying to say. You could easily come to the conclusion that you’ve stumbled into the oversized bedroom of a ten-year-old boy who has too much money to spend. You would also be forgiven for thinking that living here is really a lot of fun. Donnelly likes to explain that he doesn’t buy art to put it in certain places, but that he simply collects what he likes and then tries to find a suitable place for it in his home.

The result can be admired throughout the house, with works by artists such as Raymond Pettibon, George Condo, Mike Kelley and Alex Katz. And because Donnelly’s space at home is limited, parts of his collection are always on loan to museums around the world – which still doesn’t leave a lot of room on the walls or the floor.

But let’s talk about our host. Brian Donnelly, known professionally as KAWS, first rose to prominence as a graffiti artist in the nineties. After moving to New York, he often roamed the streets at night, equipped with his spray cans and the (not entirely legal) knowledge of how to break open the advertising panels on bus stops and telephone booths. Donnelly took the posters back to his studio, subverted them with his own ideas, and put them back in place. Vandalism? Perhaps. Reclaiming the public space for art? Absolutely. His pseudonym KAWS is a tribute to the large-format letter constellations on commercial billboards that dominated the visual streetscape of New York in the 1990s and whose typographic power impressed Donnelly. In an interview with Interview magazine, he explained, “There’s no meaning to it. It’s just letters that I liked – K-A-W-S. I felt like they always work and function nicely with each other.” And so KAWS became a constant companion in his life as an artist, eventually turning into a brand that bridges the gap between consumption and art.

From New York, he soon conquered other cities around the world: Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, just to name a few. In 1996 KAWS even spent a short time working for Walt Disney Animation Studios – a brief detour that would leave its mark on his later work. The cartoonish, the playful remains an integral part of his creative output today. The juxtaposition of two worlds, the clash between high culture and popular culture, the contradiction between urban canvas and museum displays became the heart of his work. And something else was born during his time at Disney: his signature character, the “Companion” – as defining for KAWS as Campbell’s soup cans were for Warhol.

KAWS doesn’t decorate his home with many works of his own, which says a lot about him as a person. Though, of course, he can’t do without a few prints – and his Companion. The figure stands in his living room. This combination of Mickey Mouse, skull and sad clown, which enjoys cult status worldwide and is traded at record prices, looks almost surreal.

The interesting thing about KAWS’s work is how he manages to change and adapt his figures without them losing their basic message.

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→ Read the full story in rampstyle #33 “When You Know, You Know”.