ZHONG CHENG

Zhong Cheng 2024 Autumn Auction「Modern And Contemporary Art」

  • Zhong Cheng 2022 Autumn Auction「Modern And Contemporary Art」
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    KAWS(BRIAN DONNELLY) (b.1974)

    Gone and Beyond A-3

    2012

    Acrylic on Canvas
    Diameter Ø 101.6 cm

    Signed on the reverse: KAWS in English and dated 2012

    Estimate TWD 8,000,000-13,000,000
    USD 258,100-419,400
    HKD 0-0

    Hammer Price TWD 9,600,000
    USD 298,972
    HKD 2,352,941

Provenance：

Illustrated：

Exhibition：\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'KAWS - Down Time,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' High Museum of Art, Atlanta USA, February 18 - July 29, 2012

Exposition：

KAWS (Brian Donnelly) has over three million followers on Instagram and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.  Judging by the standards of our internet-dominant society, he can be said to be one of the most well-known artists in the world today.

KAWS started working with graffiti on the streets of New York in the 1990s.  He likes to call his creations of that period alternative advertising.  He would break bus shelter art windows, take the posters back to his workshop, paint over them, then return them to their original spots before dawn.  His art often contains cartoon characters with big Xs over the eyes.  Through derivative work via form and material with two different medias, he was able to eliminate utilitarian symbols and inequality of social information.  Cartoons like The Smurfs, The Simpsons, Mickey Mouse and SpongeBob SquarePants offered KAWS endless inspirations.  Incorporating values of tolerance, equality and democracy into his works has always been at the core of his artistic creations.  These elements still continue to appear even as his recent works shift toward the realm of semi-abstract paintings.

Of the paintings he has created thus far, he has successfully transformed the aesthetics of graffiti—a form of communication between the underprivileged and the capitalist worlds—by bringing it from the streets onto the easel. KAWS' works are often compared with pop art, but they offer more insight into two-dimensional characters.  He leads people into his world via humorous personas, and prompts viewers to consume and taste his democratic utopia. The XX symbols act, in a way, as his mark on the world, and in art markets, art galleries, private spaces, etc.

For example, in Gone and Beyond A-3, KAWS created an exaggerated view of SpongeBob’s face, offering viewers a rare look at the cartoon character up-close. Instead of the details found in realist art, it features interesting hard-edged lines and geometric shapes. With the use of vibrant colors, he transformed an existing popular icon and prompted viewers to regard it in a different light.  It is at the same time a collective memory and a newly reconstructed role/image. Furthermore, it is a convergence of pluses and a dissipation of minuses both in connotation and in composition.  Of course, KAWS does not forget to add his signature X on what seems to be a pupil, the central focus of the painting, adding purity and achieving a balance between figuration and abstraction.

Of KAWS' paintings, the most eye-catching is none other than the cropped tondo series. Unlike his other works which consist of entire forms, this series reinvents existing characters in a rhetorical manner.  The new work is figurative, abstract, and an acceptance of more with less.  Looking at the circular painting, the viewer is able to savor in 360 degrees with cool abstract expressionism.  Looking at it via the retrospective of art history, it is a continuation of Renaissance church tondos.  What appears to be a popular icon takes the holy form from 500 years ago, and the product is a “certain” two-dimensional character deemed both sacred and equal in the eyes of KAWS.

Regardless of how you look at it, the words "Gone" and "Beyond" in the title seem to suggest that KAWS is attempting to make something disappear, transcend, or vice versa.  With the release of this innovative series, KAWS once again reached new heights with his ability to combine pop culture, street culture and aesthetics, and thereby establishing his unshakable position in the art world.

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