KAWSUntitled
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Dimensions:Height: 14.34 in (36.4 cm)Width: 11.62 in (29.5 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Tokyo, JP
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2173213273932
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’s oeuvre encompasses art toys, sculptures and colorful 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 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 prints, sculptures and mixed media works on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Tokyo, Japan
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
- UntitledLocated in Tokyo, 13LOT:20221012S02 Auto Moai [Untitled] Ink on paper Unique Provenance: SAI GALLERY, Tokyo Accompanied by COA signed by the artistCategory
Early 2000s Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Ink
- UntitledLocated in Tokyo, 13LOT:20221012S01 Auto Moai [Untitled] Ink on paper Unique Provenance: SAI GALLERY, Tokyo Accompanied by COA signed by the artistCategory
Early 2000s Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Ink
- UntitledBy KAWSLocated in Tokyo, 13LOT:20230914S03 KAWS [Untitled] Ink on paper ca.2012-2019 Artist signed in lower right Unique 36.3 x 25.7 cm (14.3 x 10.1 in) Provenance: From the artist's agent.Category
2010s Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Ink
- Leaf Beetle 2Located in Tokyo, 13LOT:20220526A01 Yuichi Hirako [Leaf Beetle 2] Acrylic and pencil on paper Signed Unique COA will accompany this workCategory
2010s Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Acrylic, Pencil
- KANZAN (COLD MOUNTAIN)Located in Tokyo, 13LOT:20230615S01 Yuichi Inoue [KANZAN (COLD MOUNTAIN)] Ink on Japanese paper, hanging scroll Sealed on the lower left; Label on the reverse signed by Masaomi Unagami (CR78132) Unique ...Category
1970s Figurative Paintings
MaterialsPaper, Ink
- May My Heart Rest in the Shades of NightBy Yayoi KusamaLocated in Tokyo, 13LOT:20231124N01 Medium: Collage, pastel, enamel, ink on paper Artist signed and dated 1975 in lower left; Artist signed, titled and dated 1975 on the reverse Unique This work includ...Category
1970s Animal Paintings
MaterialsEnamel
- Tense & Tenses – ink on paper, poem, edition, black and whiteLocated in Tuscany, PisaLauren Ellis Matthews is a Californian-based writer, illustrator and designer. She studied Art History at Columbia University, New York and was an artist-...Category
2010s Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Ink
- Study of a Franciscan Saint, probably San Diego de AlcaláLocated in New York, NYProvenance: Ivan E. Phillips, Montreal and New York, until 2023. The brothers Bartolomé Carducho and Vicente Carducho, both born and trained in Florence, settled in Spain where they made their careers. Vicente worked on numerous commissions for both the church and the Spanish court...Category
17th Century Old Masters Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
MaterialsPaper, Chalk, Ink, Pen
- School of Athens after Raphael Vatican 18th Century Pen Ink Wash Drawing c. 1780By (after) Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)Located in Meinisberg, CHThe School of Athens after Raphael • 18th century Pen and Ink Wash Drawing • Later glazed wood frame, ca. 62 x 78.5 cm • Mounted behind a modern arch...Category
Late 18th Century Naturalistic Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsInk, Handmade Paper
- The Parnassus after Raphael Vatican 18th Century Pen Ink Wash Drawing c. 1780By (after) Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)Located in Meinisberg, CHThe Parnassus after Raphael • 18th century Pen and Ink Wash Drawing • Later glazed wood frame, ca. 62 x 78.5 cm • Mounted behind a modern arched matt...Category
Late 18th Century Italian School Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsHandmade Paper, Ink
- Self PortraitLocated in London, GBPen and ink, ink wash and pencil on paper, signed and dated (lower right), 38cm x 29cm (65cm x 55cm framed). This penetrating and wonderfully executed self-portrait, is all the mor...Category
1910s Old Masters Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Carbon Pencil, Ink
- Joseph McCarthy as Baby New Year on a HobbyhorseBy Reginald MarshLocated in New York, NYink on beige sight size: 254 x 317 mm. PROVENANCE Acquired directly from the artist by Edward Laning (who inherited Marsh's studio) to Jack Henderson...Category
1950s Other Art Style Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsPaper, Ink
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
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.