F abled, provocative and playfully rebellious, Untitled (Calvin Klein) is an iconic example of KAWS’ early reworked advertisement series. Executed in 2000, Untitled (Calvin Klein) is an original Calvin Klein advertisement painted over in acrylic in the artist's early signature style. KAWS would remove these advertisements from bus shelters and phone booths, paint over them, then reinsert them without arousing suspicion. Encapsulating the meticulous rendering and creative ingenuity which has come to define the artist’s oeuvre, the present work showcases the clean graphic style of the young artist as he emerged to prominence as a part of the street-art subcultures of New York in the 1990s. As early examples of such definitive motifs as crossed bones and X-ed out eyes, these works quickly garnered cult status, with multiple examples being stolen from the street before KAWS could even photograph his reinserted paintings. Prompting the artist to discontinue the practice and move his art into a more formal gallery setting, the present work represents an exceedingly rare and historic example within the artist’s oeuvre.

Belonging to the limited series of “interruptions” produced by the artist in the 1990s, these sly subversions of the advertising campaigns of brands like Calvin Klein and Guess see the Jersey native festoon his mischievous, serpentine Bendy character around the figures of Kate Moss and Christy Turlington. Originally placed in downtown New York City and SoHo, these works quickly drew a devoted audience, who often stole them for resale. Installing these works along his trail to work as an illustrator, these “interruptions” would remain in place for months at a time. Yet, as they became more popular, “the pieces would last for like a half day. I'd go back to document them, and there would just be a pile of glass on the ground where I'd just installed the piece. I was like, ‘What's the point?” (KAWS, quoted in Arty Nelson, “Generation XX: How Kaws Short-Circuited the Art World, GQ, 5 August 2019). As such, the rarity of works within the series, along with their significance within the artist’s oeuvre, has made works such as the present highly coveted. Among the particularly fervent early admirers was an influential cadre of designers and tastemakers around the world, including Nigo of A Bathing Ape and Marc Ecko of Complex magazine, which helped establish KAWS as one of the most influential and innovative artists of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Growing up in Jersey City in the late 1980s and early 1990s, KAWS, born Brian Donnelly, spent his high school years graffiti-bombing trains, walls, and billboards. Honing his street-art in New York City and downtown Manhattan, it was in the mid-1990s that KAWS began a more covert form of interventionist street art. Unlocking the glass panels encasing bus stop and phone booth ads, he would steal the glossy, editorial posters and add his own graphics to them in acrylic paint before placing them back inside of their original casing. In removing the threat of being caught by the authorities, and as a result no longer scrambling to finish, KAWS was able to labour over his compositions, returning them to the street as the immaculately rendered version seen in the present work. These interventions were so skillfully executed, with acrylic so dexterously applied no sign of brushwork remains on the final product, that KAWS’ work could not be distinguished from the original advertisement. Integrating his street-art aesthetic to the highly produced imagery of fashion advertising, KAWS was able to bridge his distinctly New York aesthetic with some of the decade's most defining marketing campaigns. As the artist describes, “I think another reason why the painting worked so well was that in the 1990s, advertisements started to have a much stronger presence. They started doing those full-building billboards down Houston, taking over walls that had been covered in graffiti for years. It became a focal point for me to take back some of those spots.” (KAWS, quoted in Tobey Maguire, “KAWS”, Interview Magazine, April 27 2010, online).

Employing the crossbones motif, which has remained a signature in the artist's oeuvre to this day, KAWS’ witty engagement with mass media calls into question the notions of “high” and “low” artistic expression. The present work sees KAWS interrupt the figure of British model and downtown idol Kate Moss posing for her infamous Calvin Klein campaign. It was in 1992 that the then 17 year old Moss first appeared alongside Mark Walbugh for the CK campaign from Calvin Klein, ranking amongst the most influential and controversial images of the 1990s. Visually arresting and embodying the zeitgeist of the 1990s aesthetic, KAWS was initially drawn to these advertisements visually; “At the beginning, people thought I had political motivations, like I was doing an anti-advertising crusade…I actually liked the visual nature of these ads. I really liked some of the photographers I was painting over.” (KAWS, quoted in Tobey Maguire, “KAWS”, Interview Magazine, April 27 2010, online). As one of the most significant artists to inherit the mantle of Pop Art from the likes of Andy Warhol, KAWS’ adaption of pop culture and advertising imagery constructs a bold examination of consumer culture. KAWS’ cast of characters have become amongst the most recognisable in contemporary culture, from clothing, limited-edition toys, and large-scale sculptures, with examples now held within prominent public collections around the world, including the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; CAC Malaga; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and the Rosenblum Collection, Paris.

《無 題（Calvin Klein）》是KAWS早期改編廣告系列的傳奇作品，既具標誌性、挑釁中又帶有調皮的叛逆精神，令人再三玩味。本作作於2000年，藝術家以他早期具代表性的創作方式，用壓克力彩塗改一幅Calvin Klein廣告。KAWS會從巴士站和電話亭的廣告箱裡取下這些廣告進行塗改，並在不引起懷疑的情況下低調地重新放回原處。本作品囊括了KAWS創作的匠心及創意獨具，風格簡潔精練，突顯出其作為20 世紀 90 年代紐約街頭藝術次文化崛起中嶄露頭角的年輕藝術家。作為較早期具有KAWS標誌性的象徵元素，如交叉骨頭和ＸＸ眼睛等的創作，這些作品迅速獲得熱烈追捧，導致許多廣告站牌作品被竊取，KAWS甚至沒有機會拍攝記錄它們。作品被竊促使藝術家停止這種創作方式，並將他的藝術轉移到較正式的畫廊環境中呈現。因此，這件作品成為藝術家的創作裡，極其罕見且具有歷史意義的珍貴例子。

作為藝術家在1990年代限量製作的《介入》系列的一部分，這些作品狡詰地顛覆了Calvin Klein和Guess等品牌的廣告宣傳。這位來自新澤西的藝術家將他詼諧蜿蜒的角色「Bendy」圍繞在姬·摩絲（Kate Moss）或姬絲蒂·杜靈頓（Christy Turlington）的身上。這些作品最初放置於紐約市中心和蘇豪區，迅速吸引了一批忠實的觀眾，亦同時引來竊取者偷走這些作品並進行轉售。這些《介入》作品一般沿著KAWS以插畫師身份上班時的通勤路線安裝，有的時候可以留在原處好一段時間。然而，隨著它們日益增長的關注度，「這些作品大概只能維持半天。我回去拍攝它們時，發現剛剛才安裝好作品的地方只剩一地碎玻璃。我想：『這有什麼意義呢？』」（KAWS自述，Arty Nelson撰，〈XX世代：KAWS如何短路藝術界，《GQ》，2019年8月5日）綜合這一系列作品的稀有性，以及它們在KAWS藝術生涯中的舉足輕重，更顯是次上拍的《無題（Calvin Klein）》難得一遇，備受矚目。許多具全球影響力的設計師和潮流先驅，包括​​ A Bathing Ape的創辦人NIGO，早已是藝術家職業生涯初期的狂熱支持者，這有助於奠定KAWS日後晉升為90年代後期和2000年代初最具影響力和創新性的藝術家之一。

本名布賴恩·唐納利的KAWS於1980年代末至1990年代初在新澤西州澤西市長大，他以在火車、牆壁和廣告招牌上塗鴉之中，度過了他的高中時光。到了1990年代中期，KAWS在紐約市和曼哈頓市中心磨練他的街頭藝術技巧，並開始進行一種更加低調的介入式街頭藝術。他解鎖巴士站和電話亭的廣告箱玻璃面板，將廣告海報帶回工作室[Office1] ，用壓克力顏料繪製後，再將它們放回原來的廣告箱當中。免除了在現場被發現的危機，KAWS在工作室裡得以專注創作，不需匆忙完成，因此能將完美塗刷後的版本帶回街頭，本作則為一例。這些介入行為十分有技巧地被執行，熟練的壓克力彩應用以至海報上沒有留下任何刷痕，這使得KAWS的繪畫無法與原本的廣告內容區分開來。KAWS將街頭藝術美學融入時尚廣告的精緻影像中，把他獨特的紐約美學，與當時最具代表性的市場營銷活動銜接起來。正如藝術家所描述：「我認為這些繪畫能如此成功的另一個原因是，廣告在1990年代開始變得更加強勢。他們在休斯敦街上設置全棟建築的廣告牌，替代了多年來一直被塗鴉覆蓋的牆壁。這成為我重新佔據一些地點的主要原因。」（KAWS自述，Tobey Maguire撰，〈KAWS〉，《Interview Magazine》，2010年4月27日)。

KAWS透過持續沿用至今交叉骨頭圖案進行創作，巧妙地與大眾媒體互動，質疑藝術表現中「高尚」和「低俗」的概念。在這件作品中，KAWS挪用惡搞英籍模特兒姬·摩絲受人注目且具爭議的Calvin Klein廣告形象。1992年，當時17歲的姬·摩絲首次與馬克·沃爾伯格（Mark Walbugh）一同出現在Calvin Klein的CK廣告企劃中，這系列廣告被認為是1990年代最具影響力和爭議性的圖像。這些廣告的視覺引人注目，呈現了1990年代的美學思潮，而KAWS表示最初就是視覺上受到吸引：「起初，人們以為我有政治動機，好像我在進行反廣告的運動……實際上，我喜歡這些廣告的視覺特性。我很喜歡某些被我繪製過的攝影師們本身的作品。」（KAWS自述，Tobey Maguire撰，〈KAWS〉，《Interview Magazine》，2010年4月27日)。