‘KAWS + Warhol’ Exhibit Continues at The Warhol Museum (Fri., 12/20/24)

Parts of ‘KAWS + Warhol’ are spooky. The immersive experience pictured here by KAWS is called ‘Tide.’ (© KAWS, photo: Farzad Owrang)

The chilly months of the year are ideal for indoor sports, like visiting an art museum. And right now The Andy Warhol Museum is hosting a very good (as well as very unusual) special exhibition. KAWS + Warhol combines work by two artists who would seem to have little in common. Former graffiti artist KAWS, a.k.a. Brian Donnelly, deals mainly in pictures and 3D replicas of his cartoony, clown-like, x-eyed figures. Andy Warhol produced art across a wide spectrum of media and subject matter—from paintings and silkscreens to films and videos, with subjects ranging from car crashes to celebrities. And yet the pieces mingled together in KAWS + Warhol create a sensationally weird chemistry. Throughout the show, strange thematic counterpoints abound. On the dark side, KAWS’s sculpted death scene “Gone” resonates spookily with a large Warhol “Skull” painting. On the zany side, it’s hard to beat the enigmatic KAWS figure “Separated” posed in front of a continuous-loop screening of the Warhol film “Blow Job.” There is lots more in between—see our review for details— and the entire show sings. KAWS + Warhol runs at The Warhol through January 20. 117 Sandusky St., North Side. (M.V.)

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