We LOVE KAWS and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and this lovely film from NOWNESS by Brian Sumner.
A 41-foot-high monochrome balloon courtesy of the artist KAWS, aka Brian Donnelly, is the airborne star of today’s film from director Jake Sumner. The helium-filled polyurethane version of KAWS’s famous “Companion”, a cartoon-like ghoul that sits with its head in its hands as though weeping, was immortalized in all its tragi-comic glory as it drifted along the Upper West Side towards downtown Manhattan last month during the famed Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “I grew up partly on Central Park West and really loved watching the parade as a kid,” says Sumner, whose recent directorial work includes a music video for Lissy Trullie’s “It’s Only You Isn’t It,” starring Chloë Sevigny. “There was always a very magical feeling to the way the balloons moved.” Part of a dual, simultaneous release of a partner short for I Am Other, the Google channel belonging to musician and KAWS enthusiast Pharrell Williams, this film sees the melancholic creation surreally hovering behind traditional blow-up effigies of Kermit the Frog, Hello Kitty, and the 86-year-old parade’s first floating figure, Felix the Cat. The inclusion of “Companion” proved something of a watershed moment for Donnelly, whose artistic career began with tagging in New Jersey and New York’s derelict buildings and highways. Now, a 16-foot sculpture of KAWS’ haunting character is on view at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, while a solo exhibition of his work can be seen at Paris’ Galerie Perrotin. “His rise has been mind-blowing,” says Sumner. “It’s amazing he’s been able to make the leap to that giant level while still keeping his work really fun.”
KAWS: Companion at the Parade on Nowness.com.
12/18/2012 | Posted by Eye Forward
Categories: Fashion
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