Yorkshire’s bleak weather inadvertently yet poignantly complements the weary disposition of the six monumental works exhibited in the lush landscape of the Sculpture Park. Rendered in natural or black-stained afromosia wood and measuring between six and 10 meters in height, they all display KAWS’ signature skull-and-crossbones motif while channelling beloved cartoon characters. The figures, both familiar in their likeness to pop culture icons and alienating in their disheartened postures and grotesque faces, walk a fine line between the playful and the bleak.

“Small Lie” (2013), the highest and most imposing of the group, an amalgamation of Mickey Mouse and Pinocchio featuring a long nose and short dungarees, stands in a stooped posture, towering yet powerless, perhaps in despair for despite having grown up he is still made out of wood. The Disney-esque character in “Final Days” (2013) seems to just as distraught seen stretching out his hands as if blind making his way through darkness, “At This Time” (2013), where he is seen covering his eyes out of bashfulness or shame, and “Good Intentions” (2015), a new work specially made for this show, where he casts a more solemn, parental presence comforting a kid-like figure clinging on to him.