KAWSAccomplice (Pink)2002
2002
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2002
- Dimensions:Height: 9.26 in (23.5 cm)Width: 3.55 in (9 cm)Depth: 1.58 in (4 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Bristol, GB
- Reference Number:
KAWS
In the beginning, Brian Donnelly was just a kid from Jersey City, New Jersey, who got into the graffiti thing. KAWS was his tag, chosen simply because he liked the way it looked. Today, KAWS creates all kinds of art — there are KAWS figures and toys, sculptures and colorful drawings, paintings and prints that appropriate pop phenomena like the Smurfs, the Simpsons and SpongeBob SquarePants.
In the late 1990s, the artist, a 1996 graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts, was making a living as an illustrator for the animation studio Jumbo Pictures. Like young Hansel and Gretel with their trail of crumbs, KAWS would mark the morning route to his downtown Manhattan office with “subvertising,” “interrupting” fashion advertisements by adding his colorful character Bendy, its sinuous length sliding playfully around the likes of a Calvin Klein perfume bottle or supermodel Christy Turlington.
These creations gained a following, to the point where work posted in the morning would disappear by lunchtime. Even in those early days, KAWS was hot on the resale market.
“When I was doing graffiti,” he once explained, “it meant nothing to me to make paintings if I wasn’t reaching people.”
Instead of seeking entrée to the elite New York art world (which, frankly, wasn’t looking for a street artist anyway), KAWS moved to Japan, where a flourishing youth culture welcomed visionaries like him.
In 1999, he partnered with Bounty Hunter, a Japanese toy and streetwear brand, to release his first toy. Companion — an eight-inch-tall vinyl reimagining of Mickey Mouse, with a skull-and-crossbones head and trademark XX eyes — debuted with a limited run of 500. It sold out quickly.
Companion was the first of more than 130 toy designs, which came to include such characters as Chum, Blitz, Be@rbrick, BFF and Milo, each immediately recognizable as KAWS figures by their XX eyes. Fans have proved insatiable. In 2017, MoMA’s online store announced the availability of a limited supply of KAWS Companion figures; as avid collectors logged on to stake their claim, the website crashed — multiple times.
Companion is the most visible of the KAWS posse, appearing over the past decade in new postures and combinations in monumental KAWS statues and other works. These include Along the Way (2013), an 18-foot-tall wooden sculpture of two Companions leaning on each other for support; Together (2016), two Companions in a friendly embrace, which debuted during an exhibition of KAWS’s work at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, in Texas; and KAWS:HOLIDAY (2018), a 92-foot-long inflatable Companion floating on its back in Seoul’s Seokchon Lake. The sculptures were re-created as toys, blurring the lines between art and commerce.
KAWS’s visual language may be drawn from cartoons, but his work doesn’t necessarily evoke childlike joy.
“My figures are not always reflecting the idealistic cartoon view that I grew up on,” he explains in the catalogue for the Fort Worth exhibition. “Companion is more real in dealing with contemporary human circumstances . . . . I think when I’m making work it also often mirrors what’s going on with me at that time.”
KAWS's résumé reads like a record of major 21st-century pop-culture moments. It includes his work with streetwear brands like A Bathing Ape and Supreme; his design for the cover of Kanye West’s 2008 album, 808s & Heartbreak; and his collaboration with designer Kim Jones on the Dior Homme Spring/Summer 2019 collection, Jones’s debut as the fashion brand’s creative director.
Learn how to spot a fake KAWS art toy, and browse authentic KAWS figures, prints, sculptures and mixed media works on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Bristol, United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Companion Flayed (Mono)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPainted Cast Vinyl Open edition Stamped on the underside of feet Excellent, minor production issue with height. Some minor imperfections may exist due to the nature of the material...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPlastic, Vinyl
- What Party - Chum (Black)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPainted Cast Vinyl Open edition Stamped on the underside of the feet New, as issued, with slight manufacturing fault (front of left foot, 0.5cm) Some minor imperfections may exist gi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl, Plastic
- What Party - Chum (Yellow)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPainted Cast Vinyl Open edition Stamped by the artist's estate New, as issued. Some minor imperfections may exist given the nature of the material Sold in the original packagingCategory
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPlastic, Vinyl
- Passing Through (Mono)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPainted cast vinyl Edition of 500 (unnumbered, reported) Stamped on the underside of foot Figure in excellent condition, with minor markings. Some minor imperfections may exist given...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPlastic, Vinyl
- Passing Through (Black)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPainted cast vinyl Edition of 500 (unnumbered, reported) Stamped on the underside of foot New, as issued. Some minor imperfections may exist given the nature of the material. Sold in...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl, Plastic
- KAWS x Robert Lazzarini, Distorted Companion (Black)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPainted cast vinyl Edition of 1000 (reported) Marked on the base of the feet with the year and Medicom Pristine, some minor imperfections may exist given the nature of the material. ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPlastic, Vinyl
- "Friendly Money Loan" Realistic miniature, architecture, building, cityscapeBy Drew LeshkoLocated in Philadelphia, PAThis piece titled "Friendly Money Loan" is an original artwork made from paper, plaster, vinyl, acrylic, enamel, polyester, basswood, chain, wire, inkjet prints, and pastel by Drew L...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Still-life Sculptures
MaterialsMetal, Wire, Enamel
- "Noemi Paris" Hyper-realistic miniature, architecture, building, cityscapeBy Drew LeshkoLocated in Philadelphia, PAThis piece titled "Noemi Paris" is original artwork made from paper, plaster, vinyl, acrylic, enamel, polyester, basswood, chain, wire, inkjet prints, and pastels by Drew Leshko. Thi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Still-life Sculptures
MaterialsMetal, Enamel, Wire
- BlobBy Dan LamLocated in Hollywood, FLArtist: Dan Lam Title: Blob Size: 33 x 29.5 x 7.5 Medium: Mixed Media made from polyurethane foam, resin, acrylic & vinyl Edition: Original Year: 2018 Notes: Signed by the a...Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
MaterialsResin, Foam, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Vinyl, Polyurethane
- KAWS Holiday Companion (KAWS brown holiday companion)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS 'Holiday' Companion Seoul: This figurine was published by All Rights Reserved to commemorate the debut of a large scale KAWS floating figure for Seoul’s Seokchon Lake during summer 2018. New in its original packaging. Medium: Vinyl figure. Year: 2018. Dimensions of figurine: 8.25 x 1.5 inches (can also be displayed in package, which measures 11 inches in height). Unopened; excellent condition. From a sold out/ out of print edition of unknown. More on KAWS Holiday Companion: Seokchon Lake, which is located in the South Korean capital's Songpa district, previously hosted the world-famous inflatable "Rubber Duck" on a tour of its waters in 2014. "I just wanted to do a water piece," said KAWS, "I was just thinking about being on vacation, and when you just drift in a pool and stare upwards, and that's really the beginning of the work. I feel like, in these times, we need things to help us relax." (source: CNN) KAWS is a fine artist, illustrator, painter, sculptor, product designer, and toymaker. His cartoonish style—including his best-known characters with X-ed out eyes—has its roots in his early career as a street artist, when he began replacing advertisements with his own, masterful acrylic paintings in the early 1990s. Related Categories Shepard Fairey. Damien Hirst. Pop Art. Kaws Figurative sculpture. Kaws open edition...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- Amanda Polo-neck Belt Skirt Boots -- Multiple, Sculpture, Unique by Julian OpieBy Julian OpieLocated in London, GBStanding Arms Crossed, 2000 Julian Opie Paint and vinyl on wood, black on white sculpture Signed in pen on underside From the edition of three, each a unique colour variant Sculptur...Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsWood, Vinyl
- Imprints / I Am Yourself: Poem. Art wall abstract sculpture installationBy Casey WatermanLocated in Miami Beach, FLPoem, 2018 by Casey Waterman Plaster, Glass, Vinyl, Walnut One of a kind art wall installation of 16 pieces. Overall size: 72" h x 17" w x 1.5" d Framed piece size: 18" H x 16" w x ...Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
MaterialsGlass, Plaster, Walnut, Vinyl
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How to Spot a Fake KAWS Figure
KAWS art toys have developed an avid audience in recent decades, and as in any robust collectible market, counterfeiters have followed the mania. Of course, you don’t have to worry about that on 1stDibs, where all our sellers are highly vetted.
KAWS Is Having a Major Effect on Popular Culture, Whether on the Street or in Museums
From graffiti tagger to hypebeast obsession to auction hero — we chart the artist’s rise and his widening influence.