KAWSKAWS WHAT PARTY KAWS BFF (set of 2 works)2017-2020
2017-2020
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2017-2020
- Dimensions:Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 5 in (12.7 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:NEW YORK, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU354310009092
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 PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- KAWS Holiday Companion (KAWS brown holiday companion)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS 'Holiday' Companion Seoul: This figurine was published by All Rights Reserved to commemorate the debut of a large scale KAWS floating figure for Seoul’s Seokchon Lake during summer 2018. New in its original packaging. Medium: Vinyl figure. Year: 2018. Dimensions of figurine: 8.25 x 1.5 inches (can also be displayed in package, which measures 11 inches in height). Unopened; excellent condition. From a sold out/ out of print edition of unknown. More on KAWS Holiday Companion: Seokchon Lake, which is located in the South Korean capital's Songpa district, previously hosted the world-famous inflatable "Rubber Duck" on a tour of its waters in 2014. "I just wanted to do a water piece," said KAWS, "I was just thinking about being on vacation, and when you just drift in a pool and stare upwards, and that's really the beginning of the work. I feel like, in these times, we need things to help us relax." (source: CNN) KAWS is a fine artist, illustrator, painter, sculptor, product designer, and toymaker. His cartoonish style—including his best-known characters with X-ed out eyes—has its roots in his early career as a street artist, when he began replacing advertisements with his own, masterful acrylic paintings in the early 1990s. Related Categories Shepard Fairey. Damien Hirst. Pop Art. Kaws Figurative sculpture. Kaws open edition...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS Small Lie Companion (set of 3 works)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Small Lie Companion: Set of 2 works (brown and grey). Each new and sealed in their original packaging. Among KAWS’s signature “Companions,” Small Lie has the most childlike resonance. Clothed in overall shorts, the Pinocchio-inspired figure bows its head in shame as if hiding from a parent after creating trouble. KAWS debuted this character at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2016, as a 30-foot-tall version made of African hardwood. The following year, KAWS released 11-inch grey, brown, and black versions of the figure, produced in collaboration with Medicom Toy. Medium: Painted vinyl cast resin. Year: 2017. Dimensions: 11 × 4.5 inches (applies to each individual) New/unopened; excellent condition (applies to each). Stamped on underside of foot from a sold out edition of unknown. Published by Medicom Japan. KAWS is a multi-faceted artist straddling the worlds of art and design in his prolific body of work that ranges from paintings, murals, and large-scale sculptures to product design and toy-making. His iconic “XX” signature has its roots in the beginning of his career as a street artist in the 1990s, when he began altering found advertisements by incorporating his own masterful paintings. Evoking the sensibilities of Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg, KAWS possesses a sophisticated humor and thoughtful interplay with consumer products and collaborations with global brands. He often draws inspiration and appropriates from popular culture animations to form a unique artistic vocabulary and influential cast of hybrid cartoon and human characters. Related Categories Kaws Companion. Retna. Kaws Pinocchio...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS Companion 2016 (KAWS Flayed)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Blush Flayed Companion 2016: New and sealed in its original packaging. Published by Medicom Japan in conjunction with the exhibition, KAWS: Where The End Starts at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. ThIs figurine has since sold out. Medium: Vinyl paint, cast resin. Year: 2016. Dimensions: 11 × 5 × 3 in (27.9 × 12.7 × 7.6 cm). New in original packaging; never opened. Stamped on the underside of foot from a sold out edition of unknown. Shipped securely from New York. We are a leading seller in this category, also specializing in Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Andy Warhol & more. 1stDibs seller since 2016. KAWS is an American graffiti artist and designer known for his toys, paintings, and prints. Born Brian Donnelly on November 4, 1974 in Jersey City, NJ, KAWS graduated with a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and went on to work in animation. “When your whole art is based on the lettering you choose, you kinda figure out what ones work together. I just liked the shapes of the k, a, w, s,” he explained of his moniker. Having started as a graffiti artist in New York in the early 1990s, KAWS began reworking advertisements in his distinctive style. Pop Art and culture permeate his cartoonish Companion series of figurines, which bear a resemblance to the works of Takashi Murakami. KAWS worked together with Nike in 2017 to produce an Air Jordan 4...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS Companion 2016 (KAWS blush)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Red Blush Companion. New and sealed in its original packaging. Published by Medicom Japan in conjunction with the exhibition, KAWS: Where The End Starts at t...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS Black Along The Way (black KAWS Along The Way companion)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Black Along The Way Companion. New and unopened in its original packaging. The KAWS Along The Way figurine is a rendition of the artist's 2013 eighteen-foot wood sculpture originally exhibited at Mary Boone gallery NY. The KAWS Along The Way figurine is a rendition of the artist's 2013 18 foot wood sculpture originally exhibited at Mary Boone gallery NY. Along the Way presents a unique pose for KAWS’s signature Companion characters. KAWS' design features two of his iconic companions leaning on each other for emotional support, hands heavy, and eyes cast downward. Two years later, KAWS supersized the composition, installing an 18-foot-tall wooden version of Along the Way in the lobby of the Brooklyn Museum, which the museum also acquired for its permanent collection. Large scale versions of Along the Way have also been exhibited at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Yorkshire Sculpture Park in England, the Yuz Museum in Shanghai, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas. Medium: Painted Vinyl Cast Resin. Year: 2019. 10.5 x 9 inches. New in original box; excellent condition. From a sold out edition of unknown. Shipped securely from New York. KAWS is an American graffiti artist and designer known for his toys, paintings, and prints. Born Brian Donnelly on November 4, 1974 in Jersey City, NJ, KAWS graduated with a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and went on to work in animation. “When your whole art is based on the lettering you choose, you kinda figure out what ones work together. I just liked the shapes of the k, a, w, s,” he explained of his moniker. Having started as a graffiti artist in New York in the early 1990s, KAWS began reworking advertisements in his distinctive style. Pop Art and culture permeate his cartoonish Companion series of figurines, which bear a resemblance to the works of Takashi Murakami. The artist is also known for his large scale public installations, such as 2019’s KAWS: Holiday which was installed in the Hong Kong harbor during Basel Hong Kong. In 2019, THE KAWS ALBUM (2005) sold at auction for a record $14.8 million, breaking his previous record of $2.7 million which was set in 2018. This work is a take on the Beatles' famous 1967 album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but instead replaced with characters from The Simpsons with the artist's signature Xs drawn across their eyes and skull. After years in the industry, KAWS gained approval from his peers in the street art world and more recently prestige from the museum and gallery worlds. His work today can be found in the collections at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Rosenblum Collection in Paris. KAWS currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Related Categories Shepard Fairey. Street Art. Damien Hirst. Art toys. Kaws Companion. Kaws toys...Category
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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.