Kaws 'Along the Way' coming to Bklyn Museum, by dreadnatty on May 27, 2015 2:12:43 GMT 1, More goodies coming to Brooklyn Museum!!!! Going to be a great summer.

‘Along the Way,’ by the Brooklyn-based artist known as KAWS, seen at the Mary Boone Gallery in Chelsea. Photo: Cassandra Giraldo for The Wall Street Journal

Next month the Brooklyn Museum will gain some arresting new gatekeepers: a pair of 18-foot-tall wooden figures whose oversize shoes, slumping shoulders and Xed-out eyes call to mind cartoon characters emerging from some dark night of the soul.

The sculpture—“Along the Way,” by the Brooklyn-based artist known as KAWS—will loom over visitors in the museum’s lobby from June 10 to Dec. 6.

Now part of the museum’s collection, the work was a gift from an anonymous donor in honor of outgoing director Arnold Lehman, who is stepping down later this year after nearly two decades at the helm. The piece will be shown alongside two paintings by KAWS that are on loan, respectively, from a private collector and from the collection of Tim and Stephanie Ingrassia. (Ms. Ingrassia is president of the museum’s board.)

The towering wooden sculpture became an Instagram sensation in 2013 during an exhibit of KAWS’s work at Mary Boone Gallery in Chelsea. Visitors posed between the legs of the figures and snapped photos looking up at their slightly bowed heads, which resemble inflated skulls-and-crossbones.

“They are so endearing, if 18-foot figures can be endearing,” said Eugenie Tsai, the museum’s managing curator of contemporary art. “Are they shy? Are they ashamed?…There is something a little ominous about them.”

The sculpture depicts a recurring figure in KAWS’s work: a character called “Companion” who made his initial appearance in the late 1990s, according to the artist, whose given name is Brian Donnelly.

“Originally he was a toy, 8-inches tall,” said Mr. Donnelly, who began his career as a graffiti artist and whose work has been shown in venues ranging from galleries to the 2012 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “He has gone through different changes over the years—he grew taller and fatter.”

Figuring out the best way to enlarge Companion took about two years, said the artist. He has a studio in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and works with a foundry in the Netherlands to produce the figures.

“I start with drawings, then I work with a sculptor to make a small model. When I have that right, I send it to the foundry to digitize and produce it in large-scale,” said Mr. Donnelly. It now takes eight to nine months to produce a finished piece, he said.

There are three iterations of “Along the Way,” all made from milled wooden planks. While the Brooklyn Museum’s piece is left “natural” and unstained, a version recently installed outside Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum for the open-air ArtZuid sculpture fair is lacquered a shiny black; a third is “halfway between the two,” Mr. Donnelly said.

Mounting “Along the Way” in Brooklyn presents its own engineering challenge: Rigging is needed to keep the 6-ton work in place, according to Ms. Tsai.

“It seemed like the perfect way to enliven the lobby,” she said. “They’re not one-liners. You can spend a lot of time with them.”

More goodies coming to Brooklyn Museum!!!! Going to be a great summer.

‘Along the Way,’ by the Brooklyn-based artist known as KAWS, seen at the Mary Boone Gallery in Chelsea. Photo: Cassandra Giraldo for The Wall Street Journal

Next month the Brooklyn Museum will gain some arresting new gatekeepers: a pair of 18-foot-tall wooden figures whose oversize shoes, slumping shoulders and Xed-out eyes call to mind cartoon characters emerging from some dark night of the soul.

The sculpture—“Along the Way,” by the Brooklyn-based artist known as KAWS—will loom over visitors in the museum’s lobby from June 10 to Dec. 6.

Now part of the museum’s collection, the work was a gift from an anonymous donor in honor of outgoing director Arnold Lehman, who is stepping down later this year after nearly two decades at the helm. The piece will be shown alongside two paintings by KAWS that are on loan, respectively, from a private collector and from the collection of Tim and Stephanie Ingrassia. (Ms. Ingrassia is president of the museum’s board.)

The towering wooden sculpture became an Instagram sensation in 2013 during an exhibit of KAWS’s work at Mary Boone Gallery in Chelsea. Visitors posed between the legs of the figures and snapped photos looking up at their slightly bowed heads, which resemble inflated skulls-and-crossbones.

“They are so endearing, if 18-foot figures can be endearing,” said Eugenie Tsai, the museum’s managing curator of contemporary art. “Are they shy? Are they ashamed?…There is something a little ominous about them.”

The sculpture depicts a recurring figure in KAWS’s work: a character called “Companion” who made his initial appearance in the late 1990s, according to the artist, whose given name is Brian Donnelly.

“Originally he was a toy, 8-inches tall,” said Mr. Donnelly, who began his career as a graffiti artist and whose work has been shown in venues ranging from galleries to the 2012 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “He has gone through different changes over the years—he grew taller and fatter.”

Figuring out the best way to enlarge Companion took about two years, said the artist. He has a studio in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and works with a foundry in the Netherlands to produce the figures.

“I start with drawings, then I work with a sculptor to make a small model. When I have that right, I send it to the foundry to digitize and produce it in large-scale,” said Mr. Donnelly. It now takes eight to nine months to produce a finished piece, he said.

There are three iterations of “Along the Way,” all made from milled wooden planks. While the Brooklyn Museum’s piece is left “natural” and unstained, a version recently installed outside Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum for the open-air ArtZuid sculpture fair is lacquered a shiny black; a third is “halfway between the two,” Mr. Donnelly said.

Mounting “Along the Way” in Brooklyn presents its own engineering challenge: Rigging is needed to keep the 6-ton work in place, according to Ms. Tsai.

“It seemed like the perfect way to enliven the lobby,” she said. “They’re not one-liners. You can spend a lot of time with them.”