UC Irvine

This thesis explores the work of American artist KAWS (Brian Donnelly), examining the aesthetics and commercialism of his work and its unique position between fine art, pop culture, and consumer goods. Despite KAWS’s popularity and commercial success, his work has produced an ambivalent response from critics and art historians alike, challenging categorization and notions of “real” art. This study focuses on KAWS's signature character, Companion, its translation from 2D to 3D form, and its origins in the subversive genres of street art and designer toys, to its current place in galleries and mass-market consumer goods. By analyzing the aesthetics and materiality of his works, particularly his appropriation of pop culture imagery and popular character designs, this thesis aims to counter the prevailing symptomatic reading of KAWS’s work as a critique of consumer culture and an effort to abolish the divisions between high and low culture of commodity and art. By analyzing the cute, cool, plasmatic, and subversive aesthetics KAWS employs in his work and collaborations, this thesis instead argues that there is no deeper meaning beyond the visual or surface level of his works. KAWS intentionally engages with the surface and visual language of consumerism and pop culture without an underlying social commentary. Through close examination of works like Flayed (2006), this study illuminates KAWS’s employment of generic and recognizable imagery to infuse his works with a deliberate superficiality, countering the typical view of pop-inspired contemporary art as necessarily conveying a social critique.