Blame Game Ix

A closely cropped portion of an unknown cartoon character’s face stares out at us from the surface of Blame Game 9 by acclaimed street artist KAWS. Seemingly alarmed, the features are familiar but not quite recognisable, the wide eyes crossed with a half concealed X and the clown like nose pushed up as if against the surface of the screen. The work is part of the artist’s wider Blame Game series – perhaps named after the song of the same title by Kanye West, with whom KAWS collaborated on the art work for the hip hop artist’s 808s and Heartbreak album – which features a number of cartoon close ups in striking colour combinations. This experimentation with colour and screen printing is of course reminiscent of Andy Warhol who produced hundreds of images of Marilyn Monroe’s face in close up in ever more daring colours however here KAWS brings his own signature style to the fore by choosing to focus on just the eye and the mouth to produce an uncanny feeling of attributable fear. Screenprint, 2014 Signed Print Edition of 100 H 89cm x W 58cmH 35in x W 22.8in