6 things you need to know about ‘Kaws:Holiday’ moving art installation in Hong Kong

Quickly revving up to be one of the highlights of Arts Month, the Kaws:Holiday moving art installation begins the Hong Kong leg of its Asia tour from Friday for 10 days. Kaws’ iconic Companion sculpture will be 37-metres long and floating in Victoria Harbour. There’s already been a lot of social media buzz as Companion has made its way from Seoul and Taipei to our Hong Kong waters. Some may be asking the question: who the heck is Kaws? ‘Ferrari: Under the Skin’ and 4 other great exhibitions to visit in Macau Here’s all you need to know about the international street artist and Kaws:Holiday before you grab your camera and dash over to the Central promenade. 1. Kaws is the professional name of Brian Donnelly Now considered one of the most iconic contemporary artists in the world, Brian Donnelly took up the name ‘Kaws’ when he was starting graffiti art on the streets of Jersey City, New Jersey. Donnelly has admitted in interviews that the name ‘Kaws’ doesn’t mean anything. 2. Kaws’ artistic style mixes graffiti with cartoon iconography View this post on Instagram Great Haring show if you’re in Brussels! Keith Haring’s “Pop Shop Drawings” at @gladstone.gallery (Brussels) Created in the late 1980s, this series of Sumi ink drawings served as the underlying artwork for prints and merchandise at Haring’s iconic New York City Pop Shop. The show runs March 13 – April 13, 2019, and a catalogue with an essay by Brad Gooch will accompany the exhibition. #KeithHaring #PopShop A post shared by @ kaws on Mar 16, 2019 at 11:52am PDT Kaws became known for a graffiti style called “subvertising” where he would hijack advertisements on bus shelters, phone booths or billboards and “deface” them with his own art. Think fashion advertisements with the face covered with Kaws’ skull and crossed eyes. As one fan commented on his Instagram, “They probably hated you for it then but they will probably pay you big $$$$ to do it now. Funny how that works.” Step aside, Banksy: Asian art and toys are taking over world markets Today, Kaws engages audiences outside museums and galleries with larger-than-life installations and bold paintings. His cartoon characters are playful, vibrant and graphic interpretations of pop culture and humanity. 3. Kaws collaborates with big names in fashion View this post on Instagram @dior @kaws first viewing A post shared by mrkimjones (@mrkimjones) on Feb 5, 2019 at 3:56am PST In summer 2018, Kaws worked with Uniqlo for the KAWS x Sesame Street capsule collection. In addition to graphic sweatshirts, hoodies and T-shirts, the collection includes Sesame Street toys with crossed-eyes – a Kaws signature. Kaws also collaborated with artistic director Kim Jones on Dior’s summer 2019 collection, with T-shirts, jumpers and track jackets featuring Kaws’ Bee motif and references to Kaws’ other characters in the campaign. Kaws has also stamped his design on reimagined Jordan 4s and Yeezys footwear collections. 4. ‘Kaws:Holiday’ is a Kaws installation with AllRightsReserved Don’t recognise the name? AllRightsReserved collaborated with Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman back in 2013 to hold the first-ever public art exhibition ever curated in Victoria Harbour – the Rubber Duck project. Inside London’s V&A Museum's lavish ‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams’ exhibition The Kaws:Holiday tour comes six years after the Rubber Duck sculpture. SK Lam, creative director and curator of AllRightsReserved said: “In 2010, we first brought KAWS to Hong Kong. We are very excited to present this colossal outdoor artwork Kaws:Holiday in our hometown Hong Kong, almost 10 years after our first meeting.” 5. See the ‘Companion’ at Central and Western District Promenade The best up-close vantage point to see Kaws: Holiday would be the Central and Western district Promenade (Central section). It is free to view the sculpture from here; all you need is a camera. The Companion has been sighted chilling in Tai O and on a boatyard – perhaps getting some R&R for his big day on Friday. 6. Don’t forget the merchandise View this post on Instagram #kaws#karimoku . . . #카우스#originalfake##disney#medicomtoy#pinocchio#jiminycricket #kawscompanion #kawsarts#kawstoys #contemporaryarts#contemporaryartworks #popart#sculpture #briandonnelly #arttoy#figure A post shared by drmac park (@drmacpark) on Mar 13, 2019 at 4:51am PDT In the late 90s/early ’00s, Kaws started to create small vinyl toys in Japan. Many of these toys are now considered rare collectibles. The KAWS x Karimoku Companion was valued at US$15,000 at one auction recently. Fans of Kaws and the ‘Kaws:Holiday’ tour can also purchase limited edition collectibles from the online store on Friday at 9am (Hong Kong time), including a Hong Kong limited Companion bath toy (HK$1,200). Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

6 things you need to know about ‘Kaws:Holiday’ moving art installation in Hong Kong

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Kaws’ cartoon characters are playful, vibrant and graphic interpretations of pop culture and humanity

Kaws’ cartoon characters are playful, vibrant and graphic interpretations of pop culture and humanity