If your in Tokyo my friend Tomoo Gokita has an opening tonight at Taka Ishii...

Taka Ishii Gallery
1-3-2 5th floor Kiyosumi Koto-ku Tokyo #135-0024 Japan
T: +81 3 5646 6050　F: +81 3 3642 3067
W: www.takaishiigallery.com

Todd James: Exhibition of New Works

"Yield to Temptation"

2012.6.2 (Sat) - 7.1 (Sun)

Opening reception 6.2 (Sat) 19:00 - 21:00

I'm bummed I'm not in Tokyo to see this show...

Nanzuka, Shibuya Ibis Build #B1F, 2-17-3 Shibuya Shibuya-ku Tokyo 150-0002JAPAN

http://nug.jp/exhi/2012/05/todd_james_yield_to_temptation.html

Carol Vogel just wrote a piece in her New York Times column about an up coming project I have with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. You can read it here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/arts/design/a-kaws-character-is-headed-up-in-the-air.html

I will have an exhibition in Hong Kong opening May 15th, please stop by if you are in town!

GALERIE PERROTIN HK
50 Connaught Road Central, 17th Floor, Hong Kong
WWW.PERROTIN.COM, HONGKONG@PERROTIN.COM
+852 3758 2180

I started using instagram, you can follow me @kawsstudio
It's mostly random images that can help you waste some time if you need to.

BE@RBRICK WORLD WIDE TOUR 2

PLACE: PARCO MUSEUM (SHIBUYA PARCO PART1, 3F)
DATE: Dec 3 (Sat) to Dec 12(Mon) 2011. *Open everyday
TIME: 10AM till 9PM * Close at 6PM on Dec 12 (Entrance close 30 minutes before the closing time)
ADMISSION: Adult 300JPY (Tax Included) *Admission is free for preschool children

BE@RBRICK TM & (C) 2001-2011 MEDICOM TOY CORPORATION. All rights reserved.

My friend James Jarvis is in NY this week and has a book signing on Thursday night at the Standard Hotel Shop from 6-8pm. Come by, it should be fun! James is one of the guys that got me interested in making toys, check out his work, you will not be disappointed!

My friend Stebs has a new project he would like you to see and support through IndieGOGO if possible!

We Are Friends - Test Trailer from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

We Are Friends began in 2008 in Vancouver as a twisted idea for a fight scene and has since evolved into a monster of a feature film. We are Massachusetts natives and long-time friends Stebs Schinnerer and Trevor Moore, and we've been pointing cameras at each other for the past decade-plus. Now we're possessed by a mutual vision we can't shake: a movie about movies, violence, vanity, friendship and politics-- an autobiography with a touch of allegory. Organic and genuine, the film draws heavily from the lives and talents of the creators and their friends. The project is as independent as it is ambitious.

Weaving elements of docufiction, action, drama, and comedy with a hard-hitting narrative, we aim to create a completely original look, feel, and tempo. Almost every aspect of the film's production-- concept, writing, pre-production, acting, shooting, editing, marketing, and distribution-- are handled by Stebs, Trevor, and their friends. This is truly a passion project.

I just returned from Tokyo yesterday and was happy to start the week off with a visit from Takashi Murakami this morning. It's always fun to see him!

He is in NY this week for the Japan benefit auction he organized at Christie's.

On November 9th I will take part in a benefit auction organized and curated by Takashi Murakami. For this auction I made a painting titled "KAWSBOB ENTERS THE STRANGE FOREST"... If you are in NY please check out the preview at Gagosian Gallery on Madison ave from Oct.26th-28th. (the full info is below as well as a link to the Christie's website)

Christie's Joins with Takashi Murakami's Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd To Benefit Victims of Japan's Tohoku-Pacific Earthquake
Preview at Gagosian Gallery, Madison Avenue October 26th - 28th

Auction at Christie's New York November 9th

of Important Works Donated by

Noted Contemporary Artists Will Fund Continuing Relief Effort

Zeng Fanzhi, Mark Grotjahn, Damien Hirst, Thomas Houseago, KAWS, Jeff Koons, Friedrich Kunath, Mr., Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Gabriel Orozco, Anselm Reyle, Cindy Sherman, Aya Takano, Luc Tuymans.
http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=5080

I haven't been to Tokyo in a long while. Today I got to catch up with Nigo, it reminded me how much I like this place..

This figure has been in the works for a long time and finally we will be releasing it next week at OriginalFake and KAWSONE..

"Work of Art" Season 2 premiere tonight at 9pm on Bravo. I'm a guest judge in an upcoming episode, will be fun to watch how the season unfolds...

The show opens September 10th at 6pm. Stop by if your in the neighborhood!

Hope all is well,

Visit the website here: EXHIBITION a

Another great show happening in Paris tonight at Colette...
The liner note drawings in this exhibition are some of my favorite works by Erik!

If your in NY this month check out Julia's show...

I hope you can stop by if you're in NY...

Once again I teamed up with A Bathing Ape to work on a new project. The first piece I made with Bape was ten years ago for my exhibition "Tokyo First" at Parco. Nigo has supported my work from then til now and I'm happy we continue to do projects together.

KAWS MILO will be available at OriginalFake and Bathing Ape shops on February 26th.
and KAWSONE some time around then.

The New York Times just did a write up on a light bulb I designed for The Standard Hotel.
They just released it in their NY shop as well as their website today.

Photo: Brad Bridgers

Last month Paper Fortress was on hand to film the installation of my Companion sculpture at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT. The sculpture will be on display now through June 5, 2011, with an opening reception on January 30th.

KAWS COMPANION (Passing Through) at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

Special thanks to Harbour City, Hong Kong, and AllRightsReserved Ltd for first developing this project!!!

Next week OriginalFake will be releasing a figure that I collaborated on with friend and Brooklyn neighbor Robert Lazzarini. Ten years after the creation of my first figure COMPANION, Robert gives us his unique take on the piece.

You can view more of Robert's work at Honor Fraser gallery in LA or visit his site direct at www.robertlazzarini.com

These will also be released at KAWSONE.com in January 2011...

The parade was great this year and Takashi was having a blast!

The parade was full of other classic characters as well...

I will be in LA this Saturday (November 20th) at Honor Fraser gallery to do a book signing from 2-4pm...
If you come by you can also see a great exhibition on view by Erik Parker as well as an Andy Warhol, Camouflage show in the 2nd gallery space.

HONOR FRASER
2622 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034

T: 310 837 0191
M: 310 433 8474
www.honorfraser.com

I donated a KAWSBOB package painting for a charity auction next week in LA.

A CONTEMPORARY ART AUCTION BENEFITTING
PROJECT ANGEL FOOD

www.angelartauction.com

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH, 2010
7:00PM Cocktails & Viewing
8:00PM Live Auction

CREATIVE ARTISTS AGENCY
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles

ON VIEW NOVEMBER 8TH-18TH

Project Angel Food's mission is to nourish the body and spirit of men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Project Angel Food cooks and delivers meals designed by registered dieticians and cooked by professional chefs and devoted volunteers with quality ingredients. Our meals are delivered to clients' homes, free-of-charge, by volunteers and staff who are often the only human contact a client will have in a day.

In 1989, Project Angel Food was conceived by a group of caring friends driven to action after witnessing their loved ones' health deteriorate as a result of disease and the malnutrition that accompanies it. The first meals were cooked and delivered out of a donated church kitchen. Twenty years later, Project Angel Food is a nationally-respected organization with an involved Board of Directors, a professional staff and more than 1,500 active volunteers. Today, Project Angel Food cooks and delivers more than 10,000 meals a week to 1,600 clients for whom a healthy meal, delivered with a warm smile, is truly life-saving.

This is a bootleg! (I'm making this post to avoid answering a ton of emails)

I will be in Colette this Monday from 12-3pm signing the Colette version of the KAWS book I published with the Aldrich museum and Rizzoli...

In just a few short days, KAWS will present a new exhibition in France at the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, titled Pay Debt to Nature. In association with Clark Magazine, KAWS is the feature artist for issue 45 of the French magazine as it ties everything together. Within the pages you'll find features involving Jose Parla, Terrence Koh, Tim Barber, Dimitri Coste, Adam Kimmel and JR among others. The KAWS x Clark Magazine Issue 45 will be available on the same day as the "Pay Debt to Nature" opening on November 6th.

I'll be in Tokyo doing a book signing this saturday at the OriginalFake shop in Aoyama..

I have an exhibition opening on November 6th in Paris at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin...

This is a short video of the Companion being installed at Harbour City..

Tonight I am having an early release book signing at Harbour City in Hong Kong starting at 7pm. I was not expecting the book to release until November but here it is early in HK via the good people at Juice... I will also be doing a signing at Colette in Paris in early November.
Below are some previews of the inside spreads.

I'm out in Hong Kong for the opening at Harbour City in a few days. I will also be doing a book signing organized by the good people at CLOT / JUICE..

Todd James has a new exhibition opening in Madrid at Galeria Javier Lopez on September 22nd!

I just received the May issue of INTERVIEW magazine. On the cover is MADONNA with a great photo shoot by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott and interview by Gus Van Sant.

I also have a feature in this issue with a portrait shot by Craig McDean, and for the interview Toby Maguire came by my studio to talk about everything from where I grew up to my exhibition next month at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

Thanks to Karl Templer for putting this together, and Fabien Baron for continuing to include me in his projects!

I guess someone does still read my blog.

The last post I made about the Nike Bespoke's was just me seeing something, being annoyed and writing about it. I could see both sides of the argument about X top stitching being used on AF1's. I surely didn't create top stitching so I shouldn't be protective of it. I guess just seeing these yellow Nike Bespoke's below rubbed me the wrong way and now all X top stitching on AF1's rub me the wrong way. I have had plenty of good experiences working with Nike in the past but I felt like making a post about this so I can share my opinion and move on.

Yellow Nike Bespoke

My design that came out before the yellow shoe above.

Yep, I guess NIKE Bespoke is letting people make shoes with my X stitch design from 2007. They did this a year ago and when I questioned them they did the right thing and took the option down. I don't understand why more of these are popping up...

I really can't get mad at people who use this option, I just think it's lame that it is an option.

Yesterday was my first day back in Tokyo in what feels like ages. This time I'm her for the OriginalFake AW/2010 exhibition and also to meet with as many friends that I haven't see in a while. The first person I went to see is Hajime Sorayama. I haven't seen him since we released the "No Future Companion", visiting him is always amazing...

I'm in LA for the opening of Robert's show at Honor Fraser last night. You have to see this show in person to really understand whats going on, it looks great. The exhibition runs from April 9th- May 8th.....

Also, I walked into Honor's office and saw these two really nice small paintings by Annie Lapin who just recently started working with the gallery...

Today at KAWSONE.COM
and at the OriginalFake store in Tokyo tomorrow!

MONDAY

I got to relax a bit this weekend. Just installed this Robert Lazzarini black 1/1 skull. It's impossible to understand how good this looks in person when you see it in a photo. He has a show that opens in LA at Honor Fraser gallery on April 10th. Stop by if you can, you will be glad you did...

I got a new assistant Sam, I think he really understands my expectations..

I have been traveling around Taiwan with Julia these past few days... kinda

And I have to mention this simple but amazing sweatshirt we (OriginalFake) released last week with the company LOOPWHEELER. I forgot how great their sweatshirts are, been wearing it since it arrived!

I'm in a group show opening tonight in Athens..

Macedonian Museum for Contemporary Art

Staring at the steak again!

I'm out in Madrid this week setting up for my show that opens at Galeria Javier Lopez on February 17th at 7:30. If you're in town please come by. I will also have work in ARCO at stand 8C06-8C08.

Galeria Javier Lopez
José Marañón, 4
E-28010 Madrid
Tel: +34 91 593 21 84
Fax: +34 91 591 26 48
info@galeriajavierlopez.com

Julia just created a new edition of 50 handmade porcelain apples titled "ALL FOR YOU" for The Standard's new shop in New York that will open on February 12th.
The edition will also be available online starting today at the Standard's online shop.

This is stupid but kinda funny and came out ages ago..

Next month we are releasing a new figure that I designed for my really good friend Masamichi Katayama and his company Wonderwall.
Wonderwall is my favorite interior design firm and this figure is in honor of that!

The Reflected Gaze - Self Portraiture Today
Curated by Max Presneill

January 16 - February 20, 2010
Opening Reception January 16, 6:00pm - 9:00pm

The Torrance Art Musem opens its 2010 schedule with another ambitious show based on self portraits. Artists included are Justin Bower, Chuck Close, Emily Counts, Ariel Erestingcol, Mark Greenwold, Julie Heffernan, Damien Hirst, Per Huttner, KAWS, Tom LaDuke, Hung Liu, Jennifer Nehrbass, Gavin Nolan, Fahamu Pecou, Dane Picard, Frank Ryan, Peter Sudar, Terri Thomas, Holly Topping, Alexandra Wiesenfeld, Cindy Wright and Liat Yossifor

From TAM: "One of the basic primary forms of painting is the self-portrait. With a long and distinguished history the self-portrait has told us about people, their times and their attitudes. They tell us of scrutiny, of desire, of ego and of the passage of time too, but they can also seem like a whispered secret sometimes, that winks knowingly to us of shared knowledge and experiences and has the added frisson for us of knowing that this is the artist 'talking' directly to us through time and geography. A great self-portrait tells you something of the artist but of ourselves too."

I just received this new edition titled "Your Mercury Ocean" by Olafur Eliasson for Mekanism.
This was a cool project, and the end result is really amazing in person.

This Friday is the opening for Todd's first NY solo exhibition at Gering&Lopez.

I got to see the paintings this past weekend when they were installing, the work looks great!
Friday should be fun so I hope you can stop by.

Will release on KAWSONE tomorrow at noon.

After a very long silence at kawsone.com we will finally have a new release. This is the last in a series of 4' OF Companions...

Hope next year treats you well...

It's ALIVE!
The new CLIPSE album is finally out and sounds amazing!
I was happy to create the cover art for this project..

One of the best things I saw in Miami last week was this installation by Julia Chiang at OHWOW!

3100 NW 7 Avenue
Miami, Florida 33127
305.633.9345 office
305.633.9498 fax

info@oh-wow.com

Hours:
Weekdays: Noon-5pm
Private appointments available

I just finished this project with Kiehl's that has been out for a few weeks. It was a really great project and 100% of the net profits goes to different charities around the world. In NY it will go to RxArt! We also did a cover/feature with Harper's Bazaar Korea.

On December 11th the Kiehl's flagship store in NY is releasing this special edition cap I designed to benefit RxArt... The edition size is really low on these. The limited edition Creme De Corps will continue through the holidays...

Mario Sorrenti invited me to work over some photos he took of Raquel Zimmerman for the November issue of French Vogue. I've known Mario for years and I was stoked to finally get to work on something with him...
(below are a few of the pages)

I usually don't like to show how my paintings are made.

October...

Is going to be long...

Erik Parker & Todd James

Sorry for the poor quality photo...

I need to get out more...

I got to work on a second Complex cover, this time with Clipse. The issue goes on sale Oct. 6th.....

My studio is a mess because we are releasing the collaborative toy I did with Jun Takahashi tomorrow at noon on my site www.kawsone.com

I wish I was in LA for this show....

GALLERY HOURS
TUESDAY -- SATURDAY
10AM -- 6PM

2622 S. LA CIENEGA BLVD.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90034

T: 310.837.0191
F: 310.838.0191

crisis...

kinda...

Todd James & Erik Parker stopped by the studio today.

Erik dropped of this awesome painting on paper.

Todd also has a show coming up at Colette in Paris that will be paintings and drawings on paper. I saw the work already, it's killer! You should stop by Colette to check it out, I wish I was going back to Paris for many reasons...

I was stuck in the work abyss.
Here are some recent things that I have been up to..

I got to work on a new project with Jonio from UNDERCOVER.
I love working with him, our meeting are always fun.

Interview magazine just released their September issue and they invited me to work over an image of MJ.

Made some shoe laces with Starks.

My friend Robert Lazzarini gave me this awesome teacup he made for the Norton Family Christmas Project in 2003.

video...

Opening July 4th, Greece.

LINK.

Just testing video on the iPhone 3GS via Splay.com "NO FUTURE COMPANION" releasing on KAWSONE.