KAWS

A svelte showcase of KAWS' monumental installation that connects Fra Angelico's Annunciation (1443) with the immediacy of contemporary life

Published with Palazzo Strozzi.

This special publication documents a site-specific installation created by American artist KAWS (born 1974) for the Renaissance courtyard of the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence. The installation stages a surprising and constructive dialogue between the contemporary giant―famed for his cartoon- and graffiti-inspired sculptures, paintings and collectible toys―and the Strozzi's concurrent exhibition on Italian Renaissance–era painter Fra Angelico. Reworking the theme of the Annunciation―the subject of Fra Angelico's most celebrated painting―through a monumental installation, KAWS offers an unprecedented encounter between eras, forms and visions, bridging traditional iconography from Western visual culture with the immediacy and hyper-connection of contemporary life. In his work, aptly titled The Message, the mobile phone figures as the central element of the scene. KAWS imbues this object of prolific daily use with a sacred quality, likening it to the miraculous message delivered by angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.