No Reply #7 2015

'No Reply #7' was made by Kaws using screen printing. Look how the colors sit next to each other, unapologetically flat. It's like the painting is saying, "Here I am! Deal with it!" The surface is smooth, almost like it was printed by a machine. The colors are bold and bright, like something you might see in a cartoon. But there's also something unsettling about it. The shapes are familiar, but they don't quite make sense. Take the blue cross for instance – it cuts right through the composition, disrupting the flow. It feels like a barrier, a wall. This push and pull between familiarity and estrangement is something Kaws does really well. He takes things we know and twists them just enough to make us uncomfortable. You might see echoes of artists like Keith Haring in the graphic sensibility. It's a reminder that art is always in conversation, borrowing and remixing ideas across time.