The Way I See It: Selections from the KAWS Collection

The Way I See It: Selections from the KAWS Collection features more than 350 artworks chosen by KAWS from his vast personal collection of over 3,000 works on paper by some 500 artists. The Way I See It continues The Drawing Center’s tradition of exhibiting drawings from outstanding public and private collections, and offers an unprecedented glimpse into the artistic inspirations and interests of one of today’s most popular contemporary artists.

Spanning the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, The Way I See It showcases a diverse range of artists and interprets the term “drawing” broadly to include comics, commercial illustrations, and graffiti sketches. The exhibition challenges long-held hierarchies and radically expands our understanding of what constitutes a great work of art. It includes works by Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning, self-taught masters such as Martín Ramírez, Henry Darger, and Adolf Wölfli, and comic artists like R. Crumb. The Way I See It also highlights KAWS’s impressive holdings of works by artists Peter Saul, H.C. Westermann, Helen Rae, and Susan Te Kahurangi King, alongside archives of works underrepresented in the artistic canon, including those of renowned American graffiti writers such as DONDI, SERVE, and FUTURA 2000.

For KAWS, this collection functions as a personal reference library—a way to study the progression of an artist’s style, to think abstractly about the marks of a drawing, and to remind himself that there’s more than one way of making art. Living with other artists’ work is “energy, food,” KAWS has said, highlighting the profound impact these works have on his own artistic practice and vision.

Featured Artists:
Nicole Appel
Ana Benaroya
BLADE
Chaz Bojórquez
Julia Chiang
Joe Coleman
George Condo
CRASH
R. Crumb
Julie Curtiss
Henry Darger
DAZE
Larissa De Jesús Negrón
Willem de Kooning
Jane Dickson
DONDI
Martha Edelheit
Nicole Eisenman
Tomoo Gokita
FUTURA 2000
Mark Gonzales
Rick Griffin
Eric Haze
William A. Hall
Todd James
Simone Johnson
Mike Kelley
Aline Kominsky-Crumb
Hilma af Klint
Josef Kotzian
Matt Leines
Judith Linhares
Lee Lozano
Gladys Nilsson
Jim Nutt
Erik Parker
PART
Joyce Pensato
Raymond Pettibon
Pablo Picasso
PHASE 2
Lee Quiñones
Helen Rae
Martin Ramírez
RAMMELLZEE
Ed Ruscha
Peter Saul
Norman Saunders
Aurel Schmidt
Dana Schutz
SERVE
Susan Te Kahurangi King
Yuichiro Ukai
Anton van Dalen
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein
Louis Wain
H.C. Westermann
Karl Wirsum
David Wojnarowicz
Adolf Wölfli
Basil Wolverton
Martin Wong
Wally Wood