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What does KAWS’s art mean?
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What KAWS’s art means is open to interpretation. 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. Companion is now the most visible of the KAWS posse, appearing over the past decade in new postures and combinations in monumental works. 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 explained in the catalogue for an exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, in Texas. “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.” On 1stDibs, find a diverse assortment of KAWS art.
1stDibs ExpertFebruary 21, 2024
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Shop for KAWS Art on 1stDibs
KAWS Black Flayed Companion (KAWS flayed)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS Black Flayed Companion 2016. A rare, out of print KAWS figurative sculpture new and sealed in its original packaging. Published by Medicom Japan in conjunction with the exhibiti...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Resin, Vinyl
12 Pieces Bronze Set
By KAWS
Located in Miami, FL
KAWS
12 Bronze Sculptures & Silkscreened Wooden Boxes with each
5 9/10 × 2 2/5 × 2 in 15 × 6 × 5 cm
Edition of 250
KAWS is a Brooklyn-based artist whose influential body of work ma...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Bronze
KAWS x Peanuts Joe Snoopy Vinyl Figure
By KAWS
Located in BRUCE, ACT
KAWS x Peanuts Joe Snoopy Vinyl Figure, 2011
The KAWS x Peanuts Joe Snoopy Vinyl Figure stands about 21 cm tall, and the mostly white Joe Snoopy is donning a yellow t-shirt with "JOE...
Category
2010s Sculptures
Materials
Vinyl
KAWS Changbai brown (KAWS holiday chanbgai)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS Holiday Changbai Mountain (KAWS brown Changbai):
A beautifully composed KAWS COMPANION published to commemorate KAWS' larger-scale ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Sculptures
Materials
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS URGE (KAWS ceramic plates)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS URGE
This complete set of KAWS ceramic plates features KAWS' CHUM character and was published by The Brooklyn Museum on the occasion of the 2021 KAWS retrospective, KAWS: WHAT P...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Prints and Multiples
Materials
Ceramic, Lithograph, Screen
KAWS - Clean Slate - Grey Version - brand new
By KAWS
Located in Dallas, TX
KAWS Clean Slate (Grey), new & unopened in its original packaging.
Sold Out after the artist's retrospect exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Medium: Vinyl & Cast Res...
Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
Materials
Resin, Vinyl