KAWS Just Entered the Augmented Reality Game With Giant Virtual Sculptures That You Can See—and Buy—in 11 Major Cities

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Or
is it… an augmented-reality sculpture by KAWS?

The street artist turned market
darling, whose real name is Brian Donnelly, is delving into the
digital art world with an AR art project that will bring virtual
versions of his trademark “Companion” figures to 11 cities around
the world.

The artist has partnered with
the VR and AR production house Acute Art on the project, which
encompasses a public exhibition of a dozen monumental augmented
reality sculptures—as well as the drop of two AR sculpture editions
that are available for purchase on Acute Art’s new app.

“When I realized the quality
that could be achieved and experienced in AR, I was immediately
drawn to its potential,” KAWS said in a statement. “I have been
creating objects and exhibiting works in public spaces throughout
my career, and this allows me to expand on that in a whole new
arena. The possibilities of locations and scale are endless, and
I’m excited to start a new dialogue in this medium.”

The public exhibition, titled
“COMPANION (EXPANDED),” will run for two weeks, from March 12
through March 26, in cities including New York, Qatar, and Tokyo.
The sculptures—which feature KAWS’s companion figure floating in
the sky, covering its face—will be visible through Acute Art’s app,
which is free to download.

The initiative also has a
commercial component that could set a precedent for how to market
AR art. KAWS is offering a variety of ways to buy a piece of the
project. The first is an edition, called “COMPANION (EXPANDED),” of
25 nearly six-foot-tall AR sculptures that will be available to buy
together for $10,000 on the Acute Art website. Collectors will be
able to place the sculptures wherever they want using the app, and
can choose whether to keep them private or make them publicly
visible to others who use the app.

The second collectable element,
called “AT THIS TIME (EXPANDED),” presents an alternative model for
commercializing this kind of artwork. It is an open edition of
1.5-foot-tall AR sculptures that are available in three colors and
can be bought on the app for a period of seven or 30 days at a
time. These will be priced at $6.99 for one sculpture for seven
days or $29.99 for all three sculptures for 30 days.

The chief executive of Acute
Art, Jacob de Geer, says that KAWS is the “perfect” artist to
launch the Acute Art app because of his loyal—some might say
rabid—global fan base. “His editions will demonstrate that
works of art in virtual space can be just as precious and
sought-after as those in our physical surroundings,” de Geer
says.

The AR works can also be swapped
and re-sold “with the push of a button,” he notes, for a price of
the owner’s choosing (although a 30 percent commission will be
tacked on, split equally between the seller and the
buyer).

While KAWS is an artist that
many in the art world love to hate, the ambitious project does
provide a model for selling and trading AR artworks, and the
exhibition offers an eco-friendly model for public art that does
away with the need for transportation and travel.

The public sculptures will be
“on view” via the Acute Art app in the following locations between
March 12 and 26. Get a preview of each installation
below. 

Doha (MIA Park – Museum of
Islamic Art), Qatar 

Hong Kong (Observation
Wheel), Hong Kong 

London (Millennium Bridge),
UK 

Melbourne (National Gallery
of Victoria), Australia 

New York (Brooklyn Museum),
US 

New York (Times Square),
US

 Paris (The Louvre
Pyramid), France

 Sao Paulo (Ibirapuera
Park), Brazil 

Seoul (Dongdaemun Design
Plaza), Korea 

Taipei (National Chiang
Kai-shek Memorial Hall), Taiwan 

Tanzania (Serengeti
National Park) 

Tokyo (Shibuya Crossing),
Japan

The post KAWS Just Entered the Augmented Reality Game With
Giant Virtual Sculptures That You Can See—and Buy—in 11 Major
Cities appeared first on artnet News.