No Reply #10 2015

Kaws made this 'No Reply #10' sometime around now with paint, and it looks to me like he's been playing with the language of cartoons, pulling out all sorts of familiar, almost recognizable shapes. I'm wondering what it was like for Kaws in the studio when he made this. Does the smooth flatness of the image mean that it was planned carefully, or did it come out of the act of doing? Is it the memory of a figure, or the beginning of one? I think of the work of Guston, who knew all about cartoons, and who eventually let his paintings devolve into something like them. Each painting exists in a continuum. When we engage with art, we're joining a conversation that spans across time and styles, inspiring each other’s creativity. Painting embraces uncertainty, inviting multiple readings rather than fixed interpretations.