KAWS: New Fiction

Serpentine North Gallery

What’s the point of KAWS? Is it much ado about nothing?

 I had avoided reading any reviews of the show before visiting: a good choice because the majority of them give one star and are totally negative. I like to go in with an open mind, and as someone who has virtually no experience of AR I was quite excited to see how it would all work.

Well, it worked. Sort of.

Upon arrival, you need to download an app, scan a QR code, and then let it calibrate. Then there's a few moments of excitement as you are able to see, on your screen, the iconic KAWS BFF and Companion figures outside and atop the Serpentine gallery.

The novelty, for myself and the other visitors at the time, resulted in lots of smiling, laughing and silly posing with empty space. A bit odd really, but fun nonetheless.

Inside, there's a collection of huge canvases (all hand-painted acrylic) and a smattering of sculptures which are monitored by eagle eyed assistants so that, in your bid for a perfect Insta photo, you don't get too close. This is KAWS first UK institutional show, and it is underwhelming.

I heard someone asking, "so what is it?" and honestly I wouldn't have been able to answer. What is it? What is any of it? In true KAWS style there's no explanation, no real concept or even purpose. It's giant toys, and extremely flat, clean-lines, too-big-for-most-houses, canvases. Fun, but a bit pointless?

Time Out, as it turns out, agrees with me and brutally said:

"The problem with KAWS, and this show, is that he and it aren’t about anything. It has no concepts, no emotions, no beauty and absolutely no point. KAWS’s art exists only to further establish the KAWS aesthetic, it exists to sell KAWS."

Put simply, this is art as a product.

So back to the exhibition experience:

Using the app, you can walk around (the pretty small, white walled space) and try to find the little characters. There were only 4, maybe 5? Underwhelming. The app didn't actually work properly for me so I relied on my friends phone the whole time.

However, there were some good features, you could take photos and videos within the app which saved to your camera roll meaning you could capture the AR interacting with the irl surroundings. Good content for your social media. There's also the option to use the app in other locations and have the little AR KAWS characters in your home, on your bed or in your workplace (although I tried it today in Reem Gallery and it was a bit jarring to use).

Before we had really even begun, we had seen everything, and even back tracked on ourselves in an attempt to make the trip seem worth the effort. I'm sure we were there for less than 20 mins.

I've just worked it out and we were there for 16 minutes, 5 minutes of that was spent in the gift shop where I bought a generic Serpentine tote bag because I needed a new one.

There was hardly any KAWS merchandise, just a few books. I probably would have bought a postcard had they had a little selection.

It was fun and people enjoyed my Instagram stories... although the majority of the comments were on my coat, no one was particularly interested in the art. Perhaps because 'art' is a loose term at this point and the majority of people really don't get it.

For such a huge name, this should have and could have been A LOT better. I would have liked a more accessible and immersive experience, with soundscapes and bigger screens through which to experience it. I would have liked MORE.