Sgt. Peppers Lonely KAWS Club Band
KAWS, The KAWS Album, 2005. Photo: Sotheby’s.
Source: Artsy
A KAWS painting recently sold for $14 million USD at Sotheby’s. By far an auction record for the artist and fourteen times the lot estimate. The work was part of the latest auction of A Bathing Ape founder NIGO’s private archive. NIGO and KAWS allegedly met in 1996 and went on to collaborate multiple times. The painting was commissioned in 2005 amongst others for NIGO’s personal collection. While being hailed by Virgil Abloh as an engineer of bridges between high and low and a curator with flawless taste, it still seems kind of weird of NIGO, to auction off works by friends for financial gain in my honest opinion. Maybe he needed a new matching Roll’s Royce Phantom draped in an all-over HUMAN MADE hearts print to complement his BAPE versions or simply grew bored of parts of his collection.
“What a strange morning...
Do I think my work should sell for this much?- No
Did I arrive at my studio this morning the same time I always do?- Yes
Will I do the same tomorrow?-Yes
Have a good day!”
The discussion about seemingly arbitrary pricing of art and the ridicule about it are probably as old as the art market itself. I think the price of an artwork is rarely understandable or a definitive indicator for “quality” but more likely for relevance at that exact moment. But in this case I have to admit, I find it making sense that this particular KAWS painting fetched a record auction result since it is arguably his most representative work to date. Not only because of its multi-layered structure of pop culture references but also because of what KAWS represents for streetwear and its culture of object fetishism.
His rise to one of the default poster child fine artists of the whole sneakers and streetwear “movement” was kind of mirroring the trajectory of that subculture entering the mainstream. Many people would argue that “the culture” has continuously become even more commercialized over the last two decades. It makes sense that during that time, KAWS also grew his commercial success and capitalized on that potential. From bombing Captain Morgan billboards to UNIQLO collabs, a Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade float, multimillion-dollar auction results, and more recently selling out an avalanche of merchandise for the KAWS:HOLIDAY float tour - just to name a handful of examples. While people got more familiar with Supreme and Jordans or started worshipping Kanye West, they probably also learned about KAWS’ work. They recognized his styles on the 808’s and Heartbreak album artwork, his collectible Medicom vinyl toys, and his now-defunct OriginalFake clothing brand. With the sneaker and streetwear markets reaching peak after peak - in monetary terms at least - it will be interesting to see if and when (, and for what artwork) this auction record will be broken.
The KAWS Album is probably the most elaborate piece of the Kimpsons series which resurfaced into the spotlight over and over. It felt like the series was in every Instagram tour of the infamous Bapeland as well as in every magazine article or video room tour in which NIGO flossed his various collections – or rather his own success, which all these cultural icons and artifacts amassed in one place represented. (What was that movie called where they stopped time and simply stole every significant or priceless artifact from human history? Or was that a Twilight Zone episode? Or was it just a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror parody?) I remember seeing it being prominently placed in various BAPE lookbooks and editorials. For me as a huge Simpsons fan, the series was also among the pages I looked at most often once I got the Skira Rizzoli KAWS monograph as part of my streetwear starter kit in 2011.
Donelly’s most recognized works probably are all referential or pull from reference material of some sort. The overpainted fashion bus stop ads; his Companion character being kind of a cross between the Michelin man and Mickey Mouse as well as countless cartoon-references in his work ranging from the Smurfs to the Peanuts, and the Simpsons among others. He even worked as a cartoon drawer for the Nickelodeon show Doug before having his breakthrough as a fine artist.
This time, the reference was the cover for The Yellow Album - an attempt to sell records with the popularity of The Simpsons. The music on this thing is nothing short from terrible but the album artwork contains a lot of nice details for fans of Matt Groening’s work to discover. My favorite elements include the white bunny ears in the right upper corner reminiscent of Matt Groening’s comic strip Life in Hell and a suited up appearance by the original Tracey Ullman Show Simpsons. If you look long enough, there is so much more to find for a Simpsons nerd like me. Of course, that cover was a reference in itself to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album artwork from 1967 – hauled by some as the best album ever recorded.
The KAWS Album merges music icons, comedy icons - in its prime The Simpsons was the best-written comedy show ever; try to change my mind - and the sampling nuance typical for streetwear. All of these worlds are present in that 40x40 inch canvas. And apparently, that is worth $14m now. What a time to be alive.
Sources:
https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/in-nigos-creative-vision-collaboration-is-king
https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/nigo-a-bridge-between-two-islands
https://www.artsy.net/news/artsy-editorial-kaws-painting-sold-14-times-high-estimate-smashing-artists-auction-record
https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/originalfake-kaws-streetwear/
https://metroaxis.wordpress.com/2018/09/03/the-simpsons-the-yellow-album-musical-cd-geffen-records-1998/
Thumbnail picture: Photo: Thomas Thompson.
Source: Sothebys
