KAWS, who is one of the most closely watched stars in the art market because of his unique work, has now departed the Perrotin Gallery which has represented him for more than a decade. To be precise, Perrotin Gallery collaborated with KAWS for 11 years.
However, Perrotin Gallery is no longer representing KAWS and the reason behind this is not known yet. Perrotin Gallery has galleries located in various different locations such as New York, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai and is representing KAWS since 2008. It must be noted that the real name of KAWS is Brian Donnelly.
KAWS, however, will still be represented by Skarstedt gallery having space in New York and London. Perrotin Gallery has also come out and commented on why it is ending the collaboration with KAWS at this point. The gallery says that “considering all the pressure, this collaboration has come to an end”. Also, there is no specific detail as to who ended this collaboration, KAWS or Perrotin Gallery.
Here is the official statement by Perrotin Gallery on end of this collaboration:
We are very proud of the work we did with KAWS over these 11 years of our collaboration. Considering all the pressure, this collaboration has come to an end. In any case, we will be satisfied if his career continues to develop in a good way and we wish him all the very best moving forward.
However, an earlier statement from Perrotin Gallery clarifies things somewhat for the audience. Perrotin Gallery, in an interview, mentioned that “I doubt he will continue with us for long.” which suggests that KAWS was the one who ended this collaboration with the Gallery.
This news comes at a time when KAWS’ market is ballooning and one of his work achieved a record at auction earlier. One of his 2005 painting named The Kaws Album has sold for $14.7 million which is way beyond the estimate of $1 million.
