KAWS Record Art (KAWS Travis Scott cover art)
View Similar Items
KAWSKAWS Record Art (KAWS Travis Scott cover art)2020
2020
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2020
- Dimensions:Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:NEW YORK, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU35437759102
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.
- Keith Haring Record Art 1987 (Keith Haring Christmas Run Dmc)By Keith HaringLocated in NEW YORK, NYKeith Haring, Run DMC Christmas: Super rare sought-after Run DMC "Christmas In Hollis" featuring Original Artwork by Keith Haring. Truly vibrant colors that make for stand-out wall art and unique vintage Keith Haring collectible. Literature: Taschen Art...Category
1980s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
$200 Sale Price20% Off - Basquiat Haring and Warhol Designed Record CoversBy Andy WarholLocated in NEW YORK, NYJean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring & Andy Warhol Designed record covers. A set of 4 vintage record albums from 1977-2001 making for standout wall art. Various recording artists, vari...Category
1980s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
- Rare Original Keith Haring Vinyl Record Art (vintage Keith Haring)By Keith HaringLocated in NEW YORK, NYKeith Haring Record Art 1987: A rare highly sought-after Keith Haring illustrated album cover featuring vibrant colors that make for stand-out wall art. Off-Set Lithograph on vinyl record jacket, 1987. Dimensions: 12 x 12 inches. Features a printed Keith Haring signature on the lower right. Minor shelf & edge wear; in otherwise good overall vintage condition. Includes original record (in good condition). Haring artwork credit found at bottom of last image. Keith Haring Album Art: a brief history: Whether collaborating with Grace Jones, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, regularly frequenting clubs like Paradise Garage alongside close friend Larry Levan, or sketching DJ robots, New York artist and activist Keith Haring’s work was deeply entwined with the music world lending his vision to sounds by everyone from David Bowie to Run DMC. Looking for something cool to complement this work? Please feel free to browse additional items like this from Jean Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Keith Haring & more on our 1stDibs gallery page. Related Categories Vintage Keith Haring. Keith Haring prints. Street art. Pop art...Category
1980s Pop Art Nude Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
$320 Sale Price20% Off - Rare Andy Warhol Record Cover Art set of 4 (Andy Warhol album art)By Andy WarholLocated in NEW YORK, NYAndy Warhol Record Art 1982-1986: Set of 4 Andy Warhol illustrated record covers (accompanied by their original records): Warhol's classic rendition of Miguel Bose, Aretha Franklin, ...Category
1980s Pop Art Mixed Media
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
$640 Sale Price20% Off - Rare original Keith Haring Vinyl Record Art (Keith Haring Crack Is Wack)By Keith HaringLocated in NEW YORK, NYRare Keith Haring “Life is Fresh! Crack Is Wack!” 1987 sealed/unopened in its original shrink wrapping: A highly sought-after 1980s record album featurin...Category
1980s Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsOffset, Lithograph
- Andy Warhol Designed Record Covers (Set of 4 LPs)By Andy WarholLocated in NEW YORK, NYA collection of 4 LPs with individual cover art designed by Andy Warhol. Featuring the following recording artists & albums: - Aretha by Aretha Franklin - Menlove Ave. (compilation a...Category
1980s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsOffset
$640 Sale Price20% Off
- Lt. Ed. Monograph of drawings, hand signed and numbered by Jean-Michel BasquiatBy Jean-Michel BasquiatLocated in New York, NYThis is a lifetime edition - hand signed and numbered by Jean-Michel Basquiat himself in Basquiat's lifetime. Many younger collectors don't appreciate the difference between the numerous posthumous estate authorized prints...Category
1980s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsInk, Lithograph, Offset, Mixed Media
- Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, collage with raised thermal silver paper, hand signedBy ChristoLocated in New York, NYChristo Wrapped Reichstag: Project for Berlin, 1994 Collage on offset lithograph with raised silver thermal paper used to wrap Reichstag, on thin velincarton 15 3/4 × 11 1/2 inches E...Category
1990s Pop Art Landscape Prints
MaterialsFabric, Mixed Media, Offset, Crayon, Lithograph
$2,240 Sale Price20% Off - Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Wrapped Reichstag monograph & slipcase, LT Ed SignedBy ChristoLocated in New York, NYChristo and Jeanne-Claude: Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971-1995, 1996 Hardback monograph with slipcase (hand signed and numbered - Hors Commerce edition, reserved for artists and contributors) Signed by Christo, Jeanne-Claude and photographer Wolfgang Volz and numbered numbered HC-694/HC-700 on the colophon. Also has an encased piece of the actual Reichstag wrapping! fabric! 12 × 12 × 1 1/2 inches Makes a memorable gift! It's hand signed and numbered - with a piece of the actual Reichstag wrapping fabric laid in. Signed by Christo, Jeanne-Claude and Wolfgang Volz and numbered numbered HC-694 on the colophon page (an Hors Commerce [not for sale] edition reserved for artists and collaborators) Original textured silver cloth with blue lettering on spine, housed in matching photo-illustrated slipcase, black lettering on spine. Contains an example of the original aluminum mesh used to wrap the Reichstag, framed in white cardboard (9 x 9") at inside back cover. Documentation of one of the startling and most stunning public art projects, representing the essence of conceptual art on a scale unmatched in the 20th century, one might say. 100 rock climbers abseiling down the facade of the Reichstag, without cranes or machinery being used in the project. This publication provides vivid documentation and a perspective of the extent of the project by the Bulgarian artist. His personal view, as expressed in The Guardian: "Artist - and above all architects - seek permanence," he said. "I don't. I like leaving nothing. That takes courage." His projects were funded mainly by selling preparatory drawings, always refusing sponsorship. Christo forbade the Three Tenors...Category
1990s Pop Art Landscape Prints
MaterialsMixed Media, Graphite, Lithograph, Offset
- Culture Carriers Stamp Out Art (Lt. Ed. hand signed stamp on franked envelope)By Joe TilsonLocated in New York, NYJOE TILSON Culture Carriers Stamp Out Art (Hand Signed), from the Collection of Art Critic Anthony Haden-Guest, 1971 Lithograph mounted on franked Air...Category
1970s Pop Art Mixed Media
MaterialsMixed Media, Lithograph, Ink, Offset
- British Pop: Mail Order, for Culture Carriers Stamp Out Art (Lt Ed signed stamp)By Allen JonesLocated in New York, NYALLEN JONES Mail Order, for Culture Carriers Stamp Out Art, from The Collection of Art Critic Anthony Haden-Guest, 1971 Lithograph mounted on franked envelope of wove paper (Hand Signed) 6 × 9 inches Edition of 250 (unnumbered) Hand signed in blue ink by Allen Jones with his initials on the lower left of the lithographic stamp, affixed to the envelope. Unframed As a consequence of the prolonged strike by the Royal Mail postal workers in the United Kingdom, Allen Jones, along with a group of top British Pop artists of the era including David Hockney, Eduardo Paolozzi, Derek Boshier, the poet/activist Christopher Logue and Richard Hamilton, published ''Culture Carriers Stamp Out Art''to raise funds for the striking workers. The "stamps" were published in a limited edition of only 250 each (some artists, like Paolozzi and Allen Jones created more than one design), with the artists signing each by hand in blue ink with his initials on the lower right. Allen Jones "Mail Order" is an especially clever take on the project; it is at once a postage stamp (hence the title "Mail Order"), but it also refers to the popular mail order catalogues of the era. It was a particular preoccupation of Jones, who, separately, created a large lithograph called "Janet is Wearing" -- referring to his wife Janet, but playing upon the advertising jargon of the day, used in mail order catalogues. For this particular project - creating a stamp to raise money for mail carriers...Category
1970s Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsOffset, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Ink
- Limited Edition Coloring Book (Artist Book of 20 Bound Offset Lithographs), 1985By Keith HaringLocated in New York, NYKeith Haring Coloring Book (Artist Book of 20 Bound Offset Lithographs), 1985, 1986 Artist Book of 20 staple bound Offset Lithographs Plate signed on cover page; with publisher and a...Category
1980s Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Offset, Mixed Media
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.