KAWSKAWS Original Fake 2006 (KAWS Japan announcement)2006
2006
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2006
- Dimensions:Height: 6 in (15.24 cm)Width: 4 in (10.16 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:NEW YORK, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU35439176482
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: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- Keith Haring Into 84 (Keith Haring Tony Shafrazi announcement card)By Keith HaringLocated in NEW YORK, NYKeith Haring Painted Man: Original 1983 announcement card for Keith Haring’s well-documented exhibition, Keith Haring 'Into 84' at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, 1983. For this series Haring borrowed Jones' body — from head to toe — as the canvas to his work. A bodily canvas defined by much of the bold pictograms characteristic of Haring's artistic signature. Photos by Haring's long-time friend and collaborator Tseng Kwong Chi. Off-set printed, 1983. Dimensions: 6 x 4 inches. Some minor fading to the reverse; otherwise very good overall condition with strong colors. Literature: Keith Haring: Posters (Prestel pub.) Further About In 1983 Keith Haring teamed up with award-winning choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones, founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Keith and Bill met in London in 1983 at a time when the graffiti artist was opening a major show at the Robert Fraser Gallery, and together they produced a series of exceptional collaborations in both performance and drawing. Related Categories Keith Haring dancer. Ballet. Keith Haring Figurative Drawings. Keith Haring Into 84 poster. Keith Haring and Tony Shafrazi. Haring Shafrazi.Category
1980s Pop Art Nude Prints
MaterialsOffset, Lithograph
- Raymond Pettibon illustrated Punk flyer 1996 (Raymond Pettibon ounk)By Raymond PettibonLocated in NEW YORK, NYRaymond Pettibon illustrated Punk flyer 1996: Super rare 1996 punk flyer illustrated by Raymond Pettibon for a Los Angeles, CA venue where Pettibon performed among friends (Pettibon presented as a performer on mid lower right). Imagery references Charles Manson - a revolving character of Pettibon´s since the early 1980s. Here Pettibon presents Manson being worshiped by a punk rocker with a mohawk under the shadow of the text, Helter Skelter - a Manson cult movement named after the famous Beatles White album song of the same name. Medium: Offset printed Punk flyer. Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 inches. Very good overall vintage condition. Unsigned from an edition of unknown. Further History: Between the years 1978 and 1986 Raymond Pettibon (aka, Raymond Pettibon; St. Pettibone) produced a now historic amassment of graphic works for seminal Southern California punk bands such as Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys...Category
1990s Pop Art Nude Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Raymond Pettibon Black Flag 1982 postmarked (Raymond Pettibon punk flyer)By Raymond PettibonLocated in NEW YORK, NYRaymond Pettibon Black Flag: 1982 Raymond Pettibon illustrated Black Flag punk flyer published on the occasion of: Black Flag, Saccharine Trust, The Minutemen, Plebes, Adolescents, C...Category
1980s Pop Art Nude Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Futura 2000 New York 1984 (Futura graffiti artist)By FuturaLocated in NEW YORK, NYFutura 2000 NYC 1984: A rare 1980s Futura announcement card published on the occasion of: FUTURA 2000 at Pizza A Go-Go June 27, 1984; 121 W 31st, New York, NY. Offset printed annou...Category
1980s Pop Art Nude Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Tomi Ungerer Nude Gun (Tomi Ungerer underground sketchbook)By Tomi UngererLocated in NEW YORK, NYTomi Ungerer Nude Gun: a selection from Underground Sketchbook: First printing, 1965. Medium: Vintage poster. Dimensions: 23 in. x 29 in. (58.42 cm x 73.66 cm). Very good overall vi...Category
1960s Pop Art Nude Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Raymond Pettibon Black Flag 1985 (Raymond Pettibon punk art)By Raymond PettibonLocated in NEW YORK, NYRaymond Pettibon Black Flag Live 1985: Rare folding double-sided promotional tour flyer illustrated by Raymond Pettibon for SST Records, advertising 1985 Black Flag concert dates. O...Category
1980s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Inappropriate ThoughtsBy Robin AustinLocated in Palm Beach, FLIconic Photo Mosaic Storyteller Robin Austin has always been a storyteller – whether earlier in his career, marketing successful global companies, or as the co-founder and creative visionary of Fusion 5, a global branding firm, or now as an artist – creating a rich landscape reflecting images of our shared cultural heritage. Each signed and limited edition work is a visual celebration of the moments captured in time. The genius of Robin’s art...Category
2010s Pop Art Nude Photography
MaterialsC Print
- Inappropriate ThoughtsBy Robin AustinLocated in Palm Beach, FLIconic Photo Mosaic Storyteller Robin Austin has always been a storyteller – whether earlier in his career, marketing successful global companies, or as the co-founder and creative visionary of Fusion 5, a global branding firm, or now as an artist – creating a rich landscape reflecting images of our shared cultural heritage. Each signed and limited edition work is a visual celebration of the moments captured in time. The genius of Robin’s art...Category
2010s Pop Art Nude Photography
MaterialsC Print
- "Baltimore 67" Photography 30" x 45" in Edition 1/7 by Larsen SoteloBy Larsen SoteloLocated in Culver City, CA"Baltimore 67" Photography 30" x 45" in Edition 1/7 by Larsen Sotelo Not framed. Ships in a tube Comes with COA Available sizes: Edition of 15: 24" x 36" inch Edition of 7: 30"...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Modern Nude Prints
MaterialsArchival Ink, Rag Paper, Giclée
- "Shakespeare Mirror Nr 4" Photography 32" x 24" in Edition of 10 by Lika BrutyanBy Lika BrutyanLocated in Culver City, CA"Shakespeare Mirror Nr 4" Photography 32" x 24" in Edition of 10 by Lika Brutyan Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta. Not framed. Ships in a tube. Lika Brutyan ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Nude Photography
MaterialsRag Paper, Archival Pigment
- "El Espiritu Asciende 1" Photography 40" x 30" inch Edition of 24 by Rob WoodcoxBy Rob WoodcoxLocated in Culver City, CA"El Espiritu Asciende 1" Photography 40" x 30" inch Edition of 24 by Rob Woodcox Hahnemuhle Torchon Matte FineArt Paper (archival) Ships in a tube 2018 ABOUT Rob Woodcox Rob Woo...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Nude Prints
MaterialsArchival Paper
- "Weathered Souls" Photography 40" x 30" inch Edition of 24 by Rob WoodcoxBy Rob WoodcoxLocated in Culver City, CA"Weathered Souls" Photography 40" x 30" inch Edition of 24 by Rob Woodcox Hahnemuhle Torchon Matte FineArt Paper (archival) Ships in a tube 2019 ABOUT Rob Woodcox Rob Woodcox is...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Nude Prints
MaterialsArchival Paper
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.