No Reply #8 2015

KAWS made "No Reply #8", and looking at these big flat color shapes, I can imagine him layering up the stencils one by one. He probably started with the pink background, then added the green, orange, and blue. He’s part of a generation that’s not afraid to grab images from anywhere—cartoons, advertising, you name it—and bend them to their will. KAWS samples and remixes images from popular culture. I’m wondering, does this piece get at something about modern life? Maybe it's about how we're all bombarded with images and how hard it is to make a real connection. The crossed-out eyes are a kind of signature for KAWS. They appear throughout his paintings and sculptures. I think he’s inviting us to think about seeing, not seeing, and how what we see—or don’t see—shapes how we feel. It seems like KAWS is in conversation with Keith Haring and other pop artists. The history of painting is a kind of ongoing conversation.