Celebrate the Arrival of The Companion in Campus Martius

A new piece of art has been added to Downtown Detroit this week. A seventeen foot statue of two characters that resemble Mickey Mouse was purchased by Big Daddy Dan to stand tall in the heart of Campus Martius. The artist's works have gone for upwards of a million dollars, but this piece was donated to the city by the Gilbert, so the cost is unknown. The statue, which was created by a New York artist names KAWS, will host its official welcoming party Tuesday night at the Library Street Collective. But, before we talk about the party, we want to let you know a little bit more about the man behind the art.

KAWS was born in New Jersey in 1974. He started his career as a cartoon artist on shows like Daria and Doug before moving to New York to pursue his career as a painter and graffiti artist. He has created lots of different characters and cartoons over the years, many of them are distorted versions of their more famous counterparts. The character depicted in the new statue is called Companion. The artist created this character in 1999 and it is known around the world. In fact, there are statues of it in China, Switzerland, and London. KAWS' work has been featured in the MOMA, it has been turned into a moon man for the MTV awards, made into a balloon for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and it has been plastered all over t-shirts and skate decks. His work starts conversations and appeals to all different types of people.

You can meet the artist and celebrate the statue's arrival in Detroit tonight (Tuesday, May 22nd) at The Library Street Collective from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. There will also be an after party at The Skip with the artist from 8 p.m. until 11 p.m. Music will be provided by Nothing Elegant.

~S