KAWS He Can

KAWS does some pretty cool work, and everybody knows it. The Marc Jacobs ballet flats—black patent leather, with pink trim shaped in the form of teeth. Hot. The diamond encrusted pendant featuring his Blitz character we saw draped across avid fan Pharrell’s neck. Fresh. The limited release of only 1000 of those Storm Trooper toy Companions that had collectors and resellers alike lined outside his OriginalFake store in Tokyo. Ill.

And this is all just last month. It all seems so inaccessible though, doesn’t it? His first solo show in years, “Saturated”—the one that featured large scale depictions of our favorite cartoons, the Smurfs and SpongeBob Squarepants, with KAWS’ signature “XX” eyes—was in Miami. Even his latest creation, the 4-foot Companion in black (the gray version was released earlier this year to crazy acclaim), just appeared on his website’s homepage with no word on when and where we can get it. Tease us no more, KAWS.

Today, the Brooklyn-based artist’s solo exhibition opens at the Gering and Lopez Gallery at 730 Fifth Avenue. And according to the only released photo, we’ll be enjoying abstract scenes with bold and trippy coloration. As if we’d expect anything but. - Danielle Cheesman