KAWS’ Man's Best Friend is a captivating series of ten black-and-white screenprints that abstractly reinterpret Snoopy, the beloved beagle from Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip. In this work, KAWS transforms Snoopy into “Joe KAWS,” presenting the character in fragmented, layered compositions that emphasise bold, expressive linework and distorted forms. By isolating parts of Snoopy’s figure, the artist creates an abstraction that retains just enough recognisable features, allowing viewers to identify the iconic canine through KAWS’ unique artistic lens.
“I found it weird how infused a cartoon could become in people's lives; the impact it could have, compared to regular politics.”
—KAWSFrom 1950 until Schulz’s death in 2000, Peanuts appeared in national and international newspapers daily, embedding itself in the lives of generations worldwide. This cultural significance resonates with KAWS, who explains, “I’m into Schulz as an artist, a company, and an icon; I got into his stuff just because I liked the looseness of the line work, and I thought that it was just sort of a nice thing to bring into my paintings, even if it’s abstract and unidentifiable.”
Man's Best Friend combines nostalgia with KAWS’ distinct contemporary visual language, paying homage to Schulz's fluid lines and the widespread emotional attachment to Peanuts. KAWS reflects on the cartoon’s impact, noting, “I found it weird how infused a cartoon could become in people's lives; the impact it could have, compared to regular politics.” This fascination with popular imagery is a central theme in KAWS' broader work, which often reimagines familiar cartoon figures to evoke memories of childhood, while also challenging the viewer’s understanding of abstraction and recognition. Rendered in simplified black and white, Man's Best Friend invites viewers to question the boundaries between abstraction and familiarity. KAWS himself asks, “What’s abstraction to somebody that knows something? If you look at something but then you know what it is, is it still abstraction?” This series encourages an exploration of that boundary, creating an experience that is both playful and thought-provoking.
