KAWS Makes Seoul Museum Debut — BTS Stars Were Already Longtime Fans

An artist whose X-eyed characters have appeared on BTS member J-Hope's album cover and filled RM's personal art collection is now bringing his first-ever solo show to a Korean museum — and the timing could not be better for fans eager to see these works in person.

KAWS, the Brooklyn-based artist born Brian Donnelly, opens "Friends, and Neighbors" at Space K Seoul in Gangseo-gu on July 23, with the exhibition running through December 27, 2026. The show features more than 20 new paintings and sculptures, and it marks the first time KAWS has mounted a dedicated solo presentation within a Korean gallery institution. For an artist whose cultural footprint in Korea has been growing steadily for years, the show feels like a long-overdue arrival.

From Graffiti to Global Galleries: Who Is KAWS?

KAWS began his career in the early 1990s by altering bus shelter advertisements and billboards across New Jersey and New York. Working at night and without permission, he would take familiar cartoon characters — Bart Simpson, Mickey Mouse, the Smurfs — and redraw them with his signature X-shaped eyes and a skull-like facial structure. The modifications were subtle enough that commuters might do a double-take, but striking enough to become immediately recognizable once you knew what to look for.

Over time, what started as guerrilla street intervention evolved into one of the most commercially and critically successful art practices of the past three decades. KAWS moved from walls to galleries, from galleries to auction houses, and from auction houses back to the streets and stadiums — often blurring the distinctions between each context. In 2019, his work "The KAWS Album" (2005), a reinterpretation of a classic painting populated entirely by his characters, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong for approximately 14.8 million USD — among the highest prices ever recorded for one of his works.

His practice now spans oil paintings on large canvases, limited-edition vinyl figures, bronze and aluminum sculptures, fashion collaborations, and large-scale outdoor installations. He has worked with Nike, Dior, Uniqlo, and a roster of musicians, yet he consistently frames all of these projects as expressions of the same artistic impulse rather than separate commercial ventures. "Whether it's a painting, a sculpture, a commercial project, or a product — these are all channels for expressing what I make," he told reporters ahead of the Seoul opening. "I want people to look at the larger picture of what I do."

BTS and KAWS: A Creative Bond That Runs Deep

For Korean audiences, KAWS is not a new name — and a significant part of that familiarity comes through BTS. RM, the group's leader and one of Korea's most high-profile art collectors, has spoken openly about his appreciation for KAWS's work and is known to own several of his art figures. RM's public enthusiasm for contemporary art has guided many fans toward artists and exhibitions they might not have encountered otherwise, and KAWS has been among the beneficiaries of that attention.

The creative connection became even more direct in 2022, when J-Hope collaborated with KAWS on the cover art for his first solo album, "Jack in the Box." The artwork placed KAWS's characters in a composition that reflected the album's themes of self-reflection and transformation. The collaboration caught significant attention both within and beyond K-pop circles, and the resulting cover was subsequently featured in a dedicated KAWS exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario — one of Canada's three largest art institutions — in 2023. That a Korean idol's solo debut album cover ended up on display at a major international museum is a testament to how deeply the worlds of K-pop and contemporary art have become intertwined.

This history gives "Friends, and Neighbors" a particular resonance for Korean fans who have followed KAWS through the lens of BTS. The exhibition at Space K Seoul offers the chance to experience his work not through a vinyl figure on a shelf or an album cover on a phone screen, but in a museum setting — exactly where the work was always intended to be seen at its fullest.

When Friends Start Fighting: What's New in This Exhibition

Longtime fans of KAWS will notice something different about the new works on display. His characters — COMPANION (the skull-faced figure that has become his most iconic creation), CHUM (a Michelin man-like figure whose name translates literally to "friend"), and ACCOMPLICE (the rabbit-eared companion) — have typically appeared in poses of quiet closeness: leaning against each other, carrying one another, or simply sitting in contemplative stillness. The emotional register of these works has often been described as tender melancholy — a visual representation of connection and isolation coexisting within modern life.

In "Friends, and Neighbors," the dynamic has shifted. The characters are now in conflict. They grab at each other, push back, and pull in opposite directions. The centerpiece sculpture, titled "NECK AND NECK," depicts two versions of CHUM locked in a physical struggle — neither gaining an advantage, neither letting go. Behind it, a large acrylic painting called "Red Ball" shows two characters on a playground, hovering in the space between play and confrontation, a red ball sitting between them as the ambiguous object of their tension.

KAWS has said the shift reflects something he has observed in the relationships around him — from personal friendships to neighborhood disputes to global patterns of conflict. He credited his children, aged nine and twelve, as a source of inspiration, noting how small disagreements among kids can rapidly escalate into something that feels much larger. "The behavior of the characters hasn't fundamentally changed," he explained. "These dynamics have always been there."

The exhibition doesn't stay in conflict for long. Other works in the show shift the emotional temperature back toward something more reflective. "Looking Far" places COMPANION alone on a pedestal, gazing into the distance with a solitude that feels contemplative rather than despairing. "Measuring Shadow" features ACCOMPLICE sizing up its own shadow on the ground — a quiet, odd, almost absurdist image that rewards time spent in front of it.

A large triptych painting called "Healing" (치유), completed in 2025, shows a group of figures in an art class, each proudly holding up their own canvas as if presenting something personal to the world. KAWS sees this scene as an expression of how healing can begin with the act of sharing — making something for others to see rather than keeping it private. Taken together, the works in the exhibition trace an arc from tension and conflict through solitude and, finally, toward the possibility of restoration.

From Seokchon Lake to a Museum Gallery: KAWS's Long History With Korea

KAWS has been a presence in Korean public consciousness for well over a decade. In 2018, a massive inflatable COMPANION sculpture — measuring approximately 28 meters in height — was installed on Seokchon Lake in Seoul, drawing enormous crowds over several weeks and generating waves of social media coverage. The installation was part of a broader series of outdoor public works that KAWS has placed in cities around the world, but its reception in Seoul was particularly warm.

Since then, limited-edition KAWS figures and collaborations with global brands have remained consistently popular in Korean retail markets, and his name has become familiar to a generation of Koreans who may never have set foot in a contemporary art gallery. The BTS connections have accelerated this familiarity significantly, especially among younger audiences who discovered his work through the group's visible enthusiasm for art.

"Friends, and Neighbors" represents a different kind of engagement. Rather than a single large outdoor object or a collaborative merchandise drop, it is an immersive gallery experience designed to show the full breadth of what KAWS does as an artist. The 20-plus works on display span canvas, bronze, and large-scale sculpture, and the exhibition has been arranged to create a narrative journey rather than simply a series of individual objects. Space K Seoul, which has established itself as one of the city's more progressive exhibition venues, provides a setting that matches the ambition of the work.

Why This Exhibition Matters Now

The timing of "Friends, and Neighbors" intersects with several currents in Korean cultural life. BTS members have been returning from mandatory military service over the course of 2025 and 2026 — a process that has kept the group and its members in the public eye even during a period of reduced activity. RM's reputation as a thoughtful and knowledgeable collector has grown during this period, with his visits to international museums and galleries regularly covered in media. An exhibition by an artist he has openly championed arrives at a moment when Korean audiences are particularly receptive to that kind of cultural recommendation.

More broadly, Seoul's position as a hub for contemporary art has strengthened considerably in recent years. International galleries and museum exhibitions have increasingly chosen Korea as a priority market, and the audience for serious contemporary art has expanded beyond the traditional collector class. KAWS, who has always occupied a space between fine art and popular culture, is well positioned to reach both the gallery-going crowd and the much larger audience of fans who know his characters through K-pop and streetwear.

"Friends, and Neighbors" opens July 23 and remains on view through December 27, 2026, at Space K Seoul in Gangseo-gu. Admission details are available on the Space K Seoul website. Whether you come as a longtime follower of KAWS's career, a BTS fan curious about the art behind the album covers, or simply someone drawn in by those X-shaped eyes — the exhibition offers something worth seeing at full scale, in person, exactly as it was made to be experienced.