ROUND XX: There are two sides to everything. And let's hope that those Xs will actually be a kiss and make up in time. And though in this social networking age everybody has an opinion, right, wrong, left, right - we are stuck in the purgatory that is our reality television drenched world. I was actually really surprised to see much click-bate out there on this particular issue, and I wasn't really going to say anything about it except for a single line that I posted online. It all made me laugh to myself...but it's time to share. Then I've witnessed blog pieces with endless comments about contemporaries Jason Freeny vs KAWS, based on and image that Freeny slapped on his Instagram of a one-of-a-kind custom piece currently in progress. The Insta post blew up and seemed to create a divide between fans in either artists' camp. But the larger story here is not the potential, or temporary, rift between two laudable artists, it is actually something else that is quite split. First I can't be more excited and enthralled by people's general passion around the subject. It's honestly great to see people so engaged about artful toy making. Secondly, and possibly a little bit more ridiculous "reality-TV" fervor that would stir the pot enough to see these two to go toe-to-toe. These guys are artists not gladiators, this is not Survivor.
KAWS vs JASON FREENY: This ain't the WWE folks. Of course what set this whole thing off in the first place was the contention by KAWS (Brian Donnelly) that the use of his own appropriated (and mind I say iconic in its own right) image of one of his dissections was a copy. Freeny's image is of the work that is still in progress, so we don't know exactly what the finished product will be, in fact maybe it was just a public provocation of sorts? Either way I have to extend genuine kudos to both artists, in their separate practices. That said, though I have reviewed several of one of the artist's works the other has been almost totally elusive and practically gone straight to the graymarket - I think you know what I'm talking about! That said, I did have the enormous privilege to see KAWS' touring exhibition late last year here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area - and it blew my mind as you can see it in my review.
What is it that fascinates people about this intellectual cagefight? If you've been paying attention you might have witnessed Freeny's seemingly endless interpretations on "dissection" through several notable toymakers around the world. You also may have noticed the near, dare I say, fetishized fever pitch start-n-stop launch of KAWS' "Open Edition" of his classic 'Companion' as well as other spin-offs with Where The End Starts now open at YUZM (Shanghai, China). So, when it comes down to the basics, the whole debate does warrant some type of merit. That said, it all seems like an open and shut personal discussion between two men, only four years, both children of the 70s.
a portion of the original post
As an artist myself I can only imagine how wild it must be to watch an engaged audience become a loud voice for the pop art of our times. I don't take sides here at all. Mainly because I believe in the evolution of art in and of itself. We went through Dada in the early 20th Century, and it took until Fluxus in the 60's and almost simultaneously with Conceptualism to take the baton. With the passing of Post-Modernism appropriation we went somewhere else completely. Now we face the age of remixing/mashups, riffing on others, taking something and re-arranging, kitbashing, bootlegging - whatever you want to call it. It's in art, music, products, everywhere. As long as the end-result uses reference to subvert (or pay homage) anything in the public realm becomes subject to a bit of a slice of the satirical, yes? But alleged plagiarism becomes a whole other question - though context is everything.
Art is supposed to provoke discussion. Will we look back at this and laugh? Now move along.....