"SAN FRANCISCO - An inflatable giant with a cartoonish skull-and-crossbones head perches on the roof of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, like a car-lot tube man, advertising the exhibition KAWS: Family inside. The big balloon is various shades of gray, reminiscent of another large sculpture just a few blocks away on the Embarcadero Plaza, a 40-foot-tall naked woman fabricated from steel mesh."
"Originally produced for Burning Man, "R-Evolution" is one of 100 sculptures in the Big Art Loop, a city-wide public art initiative privately funded by a tech billionaire. Beyond their shared vapid aesthetics, both KAWS and the Big Art Loop signal the rapid move toward the privatization of culture, and its parallel degradation, in San Francisco and beyond. KAWS is the pseudonym of American artist Brian Donnelly."
An inflatable KAWS figure sits atop the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, echoing a nearby 40-foot steel-mesh sculpture originally produced for Burning Man. R-Evolution appears as one of 100 works in the Big Art Loop, a citywide public art initiative privately funded by a tech billionaire. KAWS began in 1990s New York graffiti and evolved into a global brand through merchandise, fashion partnerships, and high-priced paintings. The KAWS: Family exhibition at SFMOMA features sculptures, paintings, drawings, and branded collaborations while omitting a noted 1995 local connection. The prevalence of corporate-funded public art and brand-driven exhibitions signals cultural privatization and aesthetic decline.
Read at Hyperallergic
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