Bending The Truth 2009

Curator: At first glance, there is a pervasive crimson wash dominating everything. It definitely makes an arresting visual statement! Editor: We’re looking at “Bending The Truth” by Kaws, from 2009. It's executed in acrylic paint, and while Kaws’ work frequently plays with familiar cartoon imagery, this seems particularly loaded, don't you think? Curator: Absolutely loaded! The composition, focusing intensely on the face with those trademark "X-ed" out eyes, conveys a sense of emptiness or loss. The intense, singular use of red... It feels suffocating, almost violently so. It draws a clear, impactful response by limiting the available chromatic tools to a bare minimum. Editor: Precisely. Considering Kaws’ background in street art and his collaboration with commercial brands, the work can be read as a comment on the commodification of childhood nostalgia. The repeated image flattens and disseminates through screen printing, merchandise... and the lack of depth contributes to its object-like quality. This portrayal almost satirizes our disposable culture and the corporate appropriation of something pure and beloved like childhood cartoons. Curator: I think that really hits on what I feel with those simplistic shapes and intense blocks of color: the cartoon simplified into something manufactured, robbed of emotion save a palpable existential angst. But what about the actual acrylic application? The consistency of application... did it feel mechanized at all? What can we interpret from Kaws' technical actions as well as aesthetic intentions? Editor: Kaws uses flat color fields and crisp black outlines that almost mimic mass-produced animation cells. Given his use of commercial imagery, I would say that Kaws embraced techniques linked with mass media and consumerism to confront us with a critical examination of the very industry it appropriates. Curator: Fascinating. I can leave this piece considering how stark forms, even familiar cartoon ones, can stir emotions through very thoughtful applications of line and color. Editor: Indeed. Kaws' "Bending the Truth" definitely delivers on its promise to provoke deeper considerations of commerce, art, and visual communication in a mass media culture.