Stay Steady
View Similar Items
KAWS Stay Steady2015
2015
About the Item
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.
- Dog on a StumpBy George RodrigueLocated in Washington, DCArtist: George Rodrigue Title: Dog on a Stump Medium: Silkscreen Year: 1996 Edition: 32/75 Framed Size: 39" x 33" Sheet Size: 30" x 21" Signed: Hand signed and numbered in silver ink...Category
1990s Pop Art Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
- SHAREBy KAWSLocated in Washington, DCArtist: KAWS Title: SHARE Medium: Screenprint on Stonehenge gray paper Year: 2021 Edition: 413/500 Framed Size: 22 5/8" x 18 5/8" Sheet Size: 20" x 16" Signed: Hand signed and numberedCategory
2010s Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Pick of the Litter (Black)By George RodrigueLocated in Washington, DCArtist: George Rodrigue Title: Pick of the Litter (Black) Medium: Silkscreen Year: 1996 Edition: 6/75 Framed Size: 36" x 42" Sheet Size: 21" x 27" Signed: Hand signed and numbered in...Category
1990s Pop Art Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Union Station (Blue Dog for President)By George RodrigueLocated in Washington, DCArtist: George Rodrigue Title: Union Station (Blue Dog for President) Medium: Silkscreen Year: 1996 Edition: 36/150 Framed Size: 31" x 42" Sheet Size: 18" x 30" Signed: Hand signed a...Category
1990s Pop Art Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Comes A TimeLocated in Washington, DCArtist: Susumu Kamijo Title: Comes A Time Medium: 35 color silkscreen and 3 color woodblock on Somerset Velvet Newsprint Grey Date: 2022 Edition: 30/60 Frame Size: 42" x 35" Sheet Si...Category
2010s Contemporary Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
- La Pique (I), from A Los Toros Avec PicassoBy Pablo PicassoLocated in Washington, DCArtist: Pablo Picasso Medium: Transfer lithograph Title: La Pique (I) Portfolio: A Los Toros Avec Picasso Year: 1961 Framed Size: 16 3/4" x 19 1/4" Image Size: 8" x 10" Sheet Size: 9...Category
1960s Cubist Animal Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Truly RudyBy George RodrigueLocated in Saugatuck, MIGeorge Rodrigue's iconic "Blue Dog" becomes "Truly Rudy" the red-nosed reindeer for the holidays. Hand-signed and numbered limited edition screen-print fram...Category
Early 2000s Pop Art Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
$2,956 Sale Price20% Off - Old CatBy David ShrigleyLocated in London, GB12 Colour Screenprint with a Varnish Overlay on Somerset Tub Sized 410gsm Paper. Limited edition of 125. Hand signed and numbered verso by David Shrigley.Category
2010s Contemporary Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Mickey Mouse, DisneyBy Peter BlakeLocated in London, GBSeven colour silkscreen print on Somerset Tub White 410gsm paper. Edition 113/250. Signed and numbered by the artist.Category
2010s Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Butterfly, GPBFBy Eddie MartinezLocated in London, GB21 Colour Screenprint on Arches BFK White 300gsm. Edition of 125. Signed, dated and numbered by the artistCategory
2010s Contemporary Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Balance The Ball On Your NoseBy David ShrigleyLocated in 'S-GRAVENHAGE, ZHMedium: 10 colour screenprint with a varnish overlay printed on Somerset Satin Tub sized 410 gsm Size: 75 x 56 cm Edition of 125 (+12 AP) Signed and numberedCategory
2010s Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
- I Hate HumansBy David ShrigleyLocated in 'S-GRAVENHAGE, ZHMedium: 10 colour screenprint with no varnish overlay printed on Somerset Satin Tub sized 410 gsm Size: 75 x 56 cm Edition of 125 (+12 AP) Signed and numberedCategory
2010s Animal Prints
MaterialsScreen
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.