COMPANION (PASSING THROUGH) by KAWS

This photo was taken with my personal mobile phone at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The work is by an artist named KAWS, a Brooklyn-based sculpture and installation artist. I stumbled upon this work quite by accident, while attending a Nick Arrojo class that was held at the gallery. This piece, while immediately noticeable, was tucked behind the building and only clearly visible from the parking lot or from within the gallery through the windows. It was a rainy, misty kind of New England afternoon which served to enhance the profound feeling of melancholy expressed by the figure's penitent posture. The immediately recognizable form of 'Mickey Mouse' confers a sense of familiarity. The placement on the grounds of the gallery outside the building implies loneliness and isolation. The overall feeling is a sense of lost innocence, which is something that probably everyone can relate to. This image has haunted me since my friend and I pulled into the parking lot that day and it has become a cherished memory.