Where do fashion, art, graffiti and cool all intersect? In the mind of KAWS. The New York-based artist, who is referred to as Brian Donnelly by his mother, has been on the cusp of what’s cool, big, important and great about commerce-driven art for decades.

Taking Risks

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But before KAWS was designing album covers for Kanye West and expensive vinyl toys for high end Japanese and European stores, he was risking life and limb pasting his own work over billboards, subway ads and phone booths (illegally) in New York, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin and other major cities.

Anything great involves taking some risks. And KAWS was onto something great that was about to be big.

KAWS’ Art Goes Mainstream

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KAWS’ reworkings of The Simpson’s (called The Kimpsons) and his remixing of Mickey Mouse are his two most enduring images. Images of a KAWS-ified Krusty The Klown began appearing everywhere–not just billboards and ads, but on T-Shirts, sneakers and in toy stores. The remixes, the original art, the toys, the posters–they all featured the same thing: a KAWS Skull.

KAWS’ Own Brand of Art

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Like Andy Warhol’s iconic Campbell’s Soup cans, what began as an ironic parody became an international brand.

Serious Fun

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If the graffiti writer as Art Star is a two sided coin with Banksy’s political paste ups on one side, KAWS’ art and commerce cohabitation sits firmly on the other. And while KAWS’ work certainly lacks the lasting effect of Serious Works Of Art, what he lacks in political punch he makes up for in fun.

And, when the art’s this good, that’s a great thing.

The influence of graffiti looms large on the art world at all times, from a street artist like Banksy being hailed as master by traditional art critics to a graffiti artist like Barry McGee transferring his work from a wall to a canvas. There are also artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, who brought the street art directly into the gallery. Dan Ericson, better known by his moniker “The Signtologist”, is one of these artists.

An Artist with a Focus on the World of Hip-Hop

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The Signtologist’s niche in the art world is one of those “so simple I wish I had thought of it” ideas – he paints portraits on street signs. The mostly monochromatic portraits tend to be of figures important to the world of hip-hop – one that’s deeply important for The Signtologist. In fact, as the artist told one journalist, it was a hip-hop artist (Black Thought, the rapper from The Roots) who gave him his monicker.

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The Signtologist’s most famous piece is his bullet-ridden Stop Sign portrait of slain rapper The Notorious B.I.G.

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This piece is emblematic of both the weaknesses and ultimate strengths of The Signtologist’s works. While a piece like this, with its obvious political undertones (as he mentioned in an interview) seems like it SHOULD matter, but it doesn’t.

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And what raises The Signtologist’s work well above the “mere novelty” of street signs being used as canvases is the quality of the work – the hand-painted portraits are expertly and beautifully crafted and, no matter what your opinion on street art may be, you can’t seem to take your eyes off the works.

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That’s the brilliant part about painting on signs that are designed to be seen by distracted drivers – you CAN’T miss them.

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If you’d like to see more of The Signtologist’s work, head over to his profile on ARTST, the brand new online community for artists started by The Neptunes’ Pharrell Williams.