Yorkshire Sculpture Park TEACHERS RESOURCE PACK KAWS

Yorkshire Sculpture Park TEACHERS’ RESOURCE PACK KAWS LONGSIDE GALLERY AND OPEN AIR 06.02.16–10.04.16 ABOUT THIS RESOURCE This resource is to support ...
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Yorkshire Sculpture Park TEACHERS’ RESOURCE PACK KAWS LONGSIDE GALLERY AND OPEN AIR 06.02.16–10.04.16 ABOUT THIS RESOURCE This resource is to support student engagement, providing questions and creative activities around KAWS. Teachers can adapt and select from these suggestions as appropriate to their group. Activities can be done at Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) or back at school or college. We recommend that teachers refer to the KAWS Exhibition Guide and KAWS Resource Pack which provide more extensive information about the artist

AT THIS TIME, 2013 Courtesy the artist Photo © Jonty Wilde

and his work. A KAWS Family Activities leaflet is also full of creative ideas which teachers may find useful. All resources can be downloaded from the YSP website. The Exhibition Guide and Family Activities leaflet can also be picked up at YSP Centre and Longside Gallery. ABOUT THE EXHIBITION This is the first UK museum exhibition by American artist, KAWS. The exhibition comprises large, bright canvases and cartoon-like sculptures at Longside Gallery as well as six monumental sculptures outdoors in Lower Park.

KAWS at YSP (installation view) Courtesy the artist Photo © Jonty Wilde

AT LONGSIDE GALLERY Look around the exhibition.

• •

How many ‘characters’ can you spot? Do you recognise any? Some may be silhouettes or outlines disguised in the artwork.

Match each of these words with one artwork in the gallery. Compare and explain your choices with a partner.

Splash

Hide

Comfort

Escape

there depth and space in the painting? What can you see in the painting? Could the painting be part of a bigger image? KAWS presents his paintings together, almost like a comic strip. Do you think the paintings are connected? Do they tell a story? What would it feel like to be inside a KAWS painting? Would it feel soft, hard, slippy? Would it be scary or fun? What would happen? What adventures could you have?

Surprise

Show

Think of five words that would capture the ‘essence’ of the exhibition to someone who hasn’t seen it. CHOOSE A KAWS PAINTING THAT YOU LIKE Ask KAWS paints his canvases with foam sponges, creating layer upon layer of paint so colour appears flat, with no visible brush marks. How would you describe the colours, surface and scale of the painting? Does it look handmade or manufactured? KAWS sometimes uses outlines or silhouettes in his paintings. What do the outlines suggest to you? Can you see shadows in the painting? Is it flat like a cartoon or is

Do At YSP KAWS planned his paintings like a painting-by-numbers picture; drawing the outline shapes first and marking each one with a number to denote a colour. Choose a painting and re-draw it as a sketch, with just outlines for each shape. Imagine the painting with different colours. Create your own colour-key and mark your different shapes with numbers for colours. Give it to a friend to colour in. How does it look? Ask two friends to pose together for you. Draw their conjoined outline with one continuous line. How does the shape change with different poses? Use this silhouette shape as an outline for a painting or collage back at school.

Back at school Use your silhouette drawing from your visit as an outline for a collage. Using strips of different coloured paper or vinyl (use glossy, matt, translucent, bright) create an abstract design or environment to disguise a character hidden beneath.

Create a 3D version of a KAWS painting. Stay small or think big, transforming anything from a box to a classroom. Use coloured paper strips, found and household objects, toys, cardboard shapes. Take a photograph to transform your 3D painting back into two dimensions.

KAWS at YSP (installation view) Courtesy the artist Photo © Jonty Wilde

EXPLORE THE SCULPTURES AT LONGSIDE GALLERY Ask Do you think the sculptures are heavy or light? What do you think they are made of? Check the gallery layout sheet to see if you are right. What do the sculptures remind you of? Are the characters familiar? How are they different to ‘normal’ cartoon characters? KAWS calls his sculptural characters ‘companions’. The companions have crosses for eyes, strange shaped ears, hair and chins. In other ways they are similar to Micky Mouse, Pinocchio or The Simpsons with their big, round shoes, dungaree shorts and cartoon hands. The companions could be of any age, gender or race and, without eyes, seem anonymous and distant. In a cartoon, a cross can also mean a character is unconscious, can denote poison or mark a place of something hidden. What other ‘companions’ are there in the exhibition? Do they have names? Check the gallery layout sheet. Do the characters have different personalities? How would you describe them? Get into the same pose as the character.

How does this make you feel? What do you think the companion is thinking? The first character KAWS invented was Bendy. KAWS painted Bendy over the top of advertising posters in bus shelters and phone booths in New York City. He used to take the posters home, paint on top of them, then put them back in the bus shelters and see if anyone noticed. His work became so popular that eventually the advertising companies wanted to work with KAWS as part of their advertising campaigns. Look at COMPANION (PASSING THROUGH). This sculpture was made for a busy street in the harbour town of Kowloon, Hong Kong. How do you think it would feel to be there? Why do you think the companion is covering its eyes? KAWS has partly revealed the inside bodies of OriginalFake COMPANION and COMPANION (RESTING PLACE)? What would you expect to see inside a toy? Why do you think KAWS has presented the companions in this way?

ALONG THE WAY, 2013. Courtesy the artist Photo © Jonty Wilde

EXPLORE THE SCULPTURES IN LOWER PARK Most of KAWS’ sculptures look like oversized toys. Some of the titles suggest a story behind the sculpture. What do the titles make you think of? What do you think has just happened? What do you think will happen next? What is the relationship between the Companions? Compare two sculptures. How are they different? What do they share? Walk around and look up at the monumental sculptures. What would it feel like to be so big? What would you be able to see? Do you have a favourite toy? Imagine what would happen if it grew to the size of a KAWS Companion. Would it change its personality? Would you still like it? Think about characters such as Pinocchio, Micky Mouse, SpongeBob Squarepants or the Smurfs. How do we identify them? What are their distinguishing features? How far can you reduce a character to a single detail and it still be recognisable?

Do At YSP Get into the pose of one of the sculptures. How do you feel? How do you move? What happens when you meet a friend in a different pose? Can you be sculptures together? Draw the outline of a companion without taking your pencil off the paper, creating a continuous line. Draw a sculpture without looking at your paper. Just keep your eyes fixed on the sculpture. Draw from directly beneath the sculpture, then far away or from a different angle. What shape or gesture have you captured? Use a circular hollow pipe as a viewfinder to spy details of the sculpture. Make a drawing of what you see. Use this as inspiration for a KAWS-inspired circular painting or drawing back at school. Using a comic strip template, draw in some of the KAWS characters you can see at the Park. Back at school, draw a story around them and add speech bubbles.

Back at school Research and find images of different cartoon characters. Draw symbols or single features which make them recognisable, i.e. Bart Simpson’s hair, Minnie Mouse’s skirt. Draw each feature on a small square sheet of paper. You can display these as a grid, as KAWS does. Play a game with your partner to see how ‘pared back’ your drawn clues can be and the character still be recognised. Can a single shape or mark represent a character? Make small clay or plasticine characters inspired by KAWS sculptures. Place them on an overhead projector (OHP). What shadow do they project onto a wall? How can you make them look monumental? Use the shadow shape as a starting point for a wall drawing or painting. Wear hats, gloves or other clothing to change your body shape, or even create different shaped props to wear, i.e. huge hands, strange-shaped ears made from card. Using torches, experiment with what shadows you can make.

Draw around the shadow. What character have you invented? Can you give it a name? Using old magazines, comics or print-outs of cartoon characters from the internet, collage and combine body parts to create new characters. Invent a collaborative character by folding a piece of paper into three horizontal parts. One pupil can draw or collage a face on the top section, before passing the paper on to another pupil. The body and arms are created on the mid-section in a similar way before passing on. The same process is used for the legs, so that three pupils all contribute to one drawing. Open up the sheet. What character have you created? Can you create a sculptural version using coloured play dough, clay or plasticine? Collect plastic moulded packaging from toys or other products. Pour plaster of Paris into the moulds to create a mini toy sculpture. Paint or colour once the plaster sets.

SMALL LIE, 2013 Courtesy the artist Photo © Jonty Wilde

IDEAS TO PONDER KAWS uses a team of artists to help him paint his pictures. He uses foam brushes to create layer-on-layer of paint for a perfect finish, so the paintings look almost mass-produced.

‘I know there are plenty of artists that operate with large studios and maybe don’t even ever touch their paintings; but their paintings are still true to their vision. I have two assistants who help me paint and fill in.’ KAWS How important do you think it is that the artist physically makes the work themselves?

Artists like Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat and KAWS started making art in the street as graffiti artists. They have now become assimilated into mainstream culture and their work fetches high prices in museums and galleries. One of the most famous street artists is Banksy. Although he doesn’t exhibit in galleries or museums, Banksy’s work has acquired a very high market value.

‘As soon as you profit from an image you’ve put on the street, it magically transforms that piece into advertising. Commercial success is a mark of failure for a graffiti artist.’ Banksy Do you agree with Banksy? Does ‘rebellious’ art lose its power once it has commercial success?

KAWS’ work extends beyond fine art, into merchandise and branding, music and fashion. He has successfully collaborated with international brands including Comme de Garcons, Nike, Lucas Films and MTV. He has made cover artwork for Kanye West’s album 808s and Heartbreak, created a bottle for Hennessy, the Pharrell Williams GIRL perfume bottle, and watches for Ikepod. KAWS celebrated major success with his company OriginalFake, which sold limited edition vinyl collectible toys as well as streetwear. How do you feel about artists that sometimes work and exhibit in the commercial world as well as in galleries and museums? Research other artists who have been influenced by popular culture or who work across different creative disciplines. Some suggestions would be Andy Warhol, Damian Hirst, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer and Julian Opie.

RELATED ARTWORKS AT YSP Dennis Oppenheim, Trees (From Alternative Landscape Components), 2006 In the meadow, next to Lower Park. A series of tree-like sculptures made from metal pipes and found domestic objects such as bath tubs. Ideas to explore with KAWS include the use of found and mass-produced objects in sculpture. What stories do the objects tell? What world do they come from? Anthony Gormley, One and Other, 2000 In Lower Park, near Cascade Bridge. A cast of a life-size figure in bronze sited high on the top of a tree trunk. How is the figure different and similar to KAWS’ companions? How is the context, or where they are placed, part of the work? Joan Miró, Monster series, 1969–76 On the Hillside, near the Underground Gallery. Miró was a Spanish artist who created playful, colourful abstract paintings and sculptures. He often used humble, domestic objects in his sculpture. These ‘monsters’ suggest faces, made with abstract shapes and simple lines. Compare these characters, all of them unique and different, to KAWS’ more generic and ‘darker’ companions.

Eduardo Paolozzi. Exhibition in the Upper Space at YSP Centre (12.03.16–12.06.16) Paolozzi was a central figure in British Pop Art in the 1960s. He was fascinated by kitsch, comics, popular and youth culture and experimented with collage, creating sculpture through casting found objects. He was interested in how art could be part of people’s everyday lives. This display of Paolozzi’s prints has been especially planned to coincide with the KAWS exhibition. Both artists share a passion for toys, pop culture and how art should respond and embrace contemporary life. Julian Opie, Galloping Horse, 2012 In Lower Park. Opie creates digitally-inspired artworks, using the language of commercial design and illustration. Galloping Horse references the history of Bretton Hall and the landed gentry who used the park as a hunting ground. The graphic, contemporary style and use of sophisticated animation, provides a witty and wry take on the heritage of the park. Opie has designed album covers for 90s pop band Blur and has produced other celebrity portraits in his idiosyncratic Pop Art style.

Julian Opie, Galloping Horse, 2012 Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery Photo © Jonty Wilde

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR VISITING GROUPS Longside Gallery opening times: 11.00–16.00 (until 20.03.16), 11.00–17.00 (from 21.03.16) Sculptures at Lower Park can be accessed during general opening times (10.00–17.00 until 20.03.16, 10.00–18.00 from 21.03.16) and will remain at the Park beyond the lifespan of the Longside Gallery exhibition. Please contact YSP Learning if you plan to visit after 12.06.16 when the main exhibition closes.

Access Longside Gallery is fully accessible to wheelchair users. A public shuttle bus runs every 30 minutes between YSP Centre and Longside Gallery. Vehicle access to Longside Gallery is via Jebb Lane, off the main A637 road, one mile from M1, Junction 38. With special permission, coaches can drop off at Longside Gallery but must park at YSP Learning at the main YSP site. It will take approximately 20 minutes for groups to walk from Longside Gallery to Lower Park and it is a 30 minute walk from Longside Gallery to YSP Learning. Please contact Carys Fieldson, YSP Learning Administrator, if you would like any support in organising your trip.

Workshops and tours YSP Learning offer workshops and tours which can include special visits to the KAWS exhibition. We also offer a limited number of special artist-led workshops around KAWS, which explore ideas in the exhibition through looking and creative making. Please visit ysp. co.uk/workshopsandtours for more information. There is an extensive family and holiday programme inspired by KAWS. Please visit ysp.co.uk/events for more information or pick up a KAWS Family Activities guide. For further information contact: Kathryn Welford, YSP Formal Learning Coordinator [email protected] / 01924 832540 Carys Fieldson, YSP Learning Administrator [email protected] / 01924 832528