Step into KAWS’ time machine

Before Brian Donnelly was known by the world as KAWS, he was a skate kid living in New Jersey, tagging trains and painting over phone booths, billboards and bus shelters. One of the bus shelters he graffitied over displayed Andy Warhol’s iconic Absolut Vodka poster – the collaboration that inspired the Absolut Art Collection, with a legacy of more than 500 artist collaborations, including with Ed Ruscha and Louise Bourgeois. Now, in a full-circle moment, the brand has released an Absolut KAWS Artist Edition bottle, inspired by an original painting by KAWS. 

KAWS calls himself a “hoarder” – and he’s a meticulous one. In his studio, alongside his colourful Absolut painting, is a stack of swatches (all number-coded) that he’s kept from his animation days, books from the artists he loves and, of course, his signature COMPANION, CHUM and BFF figurines, among others. His enthusiasm for keeping a thorough archive only makes his past Absolut connections all the more special – a reminder of the days before his museum shows, fashion collabs and a popular array of collectables. “I didn’t imagine that painting over fashion stuff would lead to attention from that world,” he says. 

To build a career in art with the breadth and depth of KAWS’ requires the ability to roll with the waves of trends over time. To KAWS, it’s all about staying true to what he’s always been interested in – creating in a range of mediums and having a conversation with the public. The Absolut KAWS Artist Edition bottle is his latest conversation-starter, featuring his CHUM figure in a visual language that feels both familiar and unexpected. It’s a collector’s item that fits effortlessly on to his stacked shelves. 

KAWS describes painting as a time machine – when he’s in his studio, he is simultaneously in the future and in first grade. Below, we meet him somewhere in the middle. 

Going all the way back to your start as a graffiti artist in New Jersey: What was it that drew you to graffiti initially? 

KAWS: It wasn’t anything methodical. I grew up skating, and a lot of the kids I skated with did graff. A lot of the older kids in Jersey City would come into Manhattan and skate the banks. It was just around me, and I was always inclined towards making art when I was younger. I used it as a bit of a social crutch. When I realised there were people my age hanging out but also painting, it just seemed like this was where I wanted to be. 

At what point did you know it could be your career? 

KAWS: I didn’t grow up around any practising artists. That profession did not exist in my world. I had imagined I would go and get a job in animation or something. I went to the School of Visual Arts [in New York] and was hoping to do something creative as a job, but I thought that would subsidise what I would really want to do creatively. Then, at one point, the opportunities outweighed the day job. There was definitely a moment.

You move back and forth across so many different mediums, including painting, sculpture and even fashion collabs. What do you take from one to another? 

KAWS: I think about what reached me when I was younger or made me want to wake up in the morning. I always wanted to work in these channels and reach people in a different world. In a perfect world, I would paint all the time, but it’s nice to hop around and branch off to see my work disseminate in all these different forms. Painting is the time when I get to think about everything, whether it’s my work or personal life. It’s a calm zone. When I don’t paint for a while, I get really grumpy. I think about things I haven’t done and cross-pollinating audiences, so I force myself into weird situations. It’s fun to jump into people’s worlds and see their enthusiasm for what they’re into. And then I can crawl back to my studio [with] these other insights in my mind. 

You’re in museums but also on the street, and in people’s homes. Was it always important for you to make sure people can access your work? 

KAWS: I was definitely very aware of the different worlds that the work could exist in. I like to have that candid dialogue with people. There’s something really refreshing about doing a project with a company that is everywhere. You could be in the customs line in Taiwan and see kids with a shirt on. I think there’s a value in that that’s not really appreciated. People see the exclusivity element [of art] and want to keep things that way. And granted, I like making nice things, but the exclusivity card has been played so hard. I don’t think anyone’s fooled by it any more. 

“Life enters your mind when you’re in the studio. Yes, I’m in 2026, but I’m also thinking about things from first grade, the present, the future – and other artists. You’re never in one place. It’s always this accumulation of experiences”

What do you think about when you’re painting? 

KAWS: Life enters your mind when you’re in the studio. Yes, I’m in 2026, but I’m also thinking about things from first grade, the present, the future – and other artists. You’re never in one place. It’s always this accumulation of experiences. Sometimes, with a series, certain moods come out. 

Tell me about the painting included in this collaboration with Absolut. Where did the inspiration come from? 

KAWS: I got to go through their archives and look at the original Ed Ruscha painting and all these racks of paintings. So that painting is very much everything I was doing at that moment. You’re getting whatever is happening in the studio. It’s part of a moment, and it should visually connect to it. 

What was it like to look through those Absolut archives? 

KAWS: It was great to look through all the actual pieces and remember images from when I was younger, and think back to when I was commissioned by a collector to paint over a Warhol Absolut poster.

What are the moments you’re most proud of? 

KAWS: I don’t know. There are highs and lows, and they’re all kind of informative. If I get it done, I’m proud; at that point it’s successful. I see all art as fluid. Things that sort of disappear for a moment and then come back to relevance, depending on what’s happening in the world. As an artist, it gives me a lot of confidence to just keep my head down and focus on what I’m doing. And if things aren’t going great, there’s potential for it to change. The only thing you can focus on is how you are building yourself as a person. How are you approaching what you’re doing today [while] taking what you learned yesterday and applying it? 

What are you most interested in exploring right now? 

KAWS: Fundamentally, I feel like it’s the same. I’m interested in making something and having a dialogue with the public – sending it out into the world, like putting a note in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean.