KAWS and David Hockney: Featured Works at VFA

KAWS: What Party

The Brooklyn Museum is hosting the first major New York survey of the twenty-five year career of Brian Donnelly, the artists known as KAWS. KAWS is one of the world's most beloved artists (with 3.2 million Instagram followers) whose works resonate with people around the globe. His Kimpsons Album painting sold to an anonymous bidder for $14.8m at a Sotheby's auction in 2019. Paintings from the Kimpsons Series are available at VFA.

The Brooklyn Museum exhibit is called What Party, the name of some of his most iconic sculptures. Versions of What Party are available at VFA. The exhibit includes graffiti drawings, paintings, small collectables, furniture, recent augmented reality projects, and sculptures, including a new major commission for Rockefeller Center.

Included in the show is a 1997 poster of Keith Haring, one of KAWS' inspirations. "In my neighborhood, there was a bus shelter ad for Haring's show at the Whitney so it was fair game." he said in a recent interview in Vogue magazine. "I loved his democratic approach to making art and how he made it accessible through the Pop Shop, so painting over his output felt natural."

KAWS has had great success in the Indie toy world that has increased demand for his work. He says that he likes the universal appeal of the toys. "Kids my age in Mexico were growing up on the same Smurfs that I grew up with." he said,  "A lot of my paintings are flat, similar to cartoons. I like the feeling this work creates when you're in front of it, especially at the scale I work at."KAWS: WHAT PARTY will be on display at the Brooklyn Museum through September 5, 2021.

David Hockney: Ma Normandie

David Hockney settled in Normandy two years ago, before the pandemic, and has used the lockdown as an opportunity to paint the landscape in and around his farmhouse. 

Most museums  and galleries in Paris remain closed, so art lovers, who had limited, advance tickets, flocked to the Lelong Gallery to see Ma Normandie, the David Hockney exhibit. All of the paintings were sold before the exhibit opened to the public. The exhibit will run through February 27, 2021.

Sotheby's has announced that David Hockney's Tall Dutch Trees After Hobbema (Useful Knowledge) will be offered at its Spring auction. The painting is expected to garner between $8.8 to 11.5 million. The work is one of a series of twenty paintings. It was featured on the April 23, 2018 cover of The New Yorker. David Hockney continues to work, in Normandy, on his iPad drawings as well as acrylic paintings.

The works of KAWS and David Hockney at VFA

Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of KAWS, David Hockney or any of the other fine artists whose works are available at VFA.