KAWSKAWS Companion Flayed Edition & Companion Edition Vinyl Figure Blush Set Sealed2016
2016
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2016
- Dimensions:Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 5 in (12.7 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Draper, UT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU132727833282
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: Atlanta, GA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Baby -- Sculpture Figure, Pop Art by Nina Chanel Abney Pop Art Street Art KidsBy Nina Chanel AbneyLocated in Draper, UTADDITIONAL INFO AllRightsReserved has tapped Nina Chanel Abney for a vinyl figure titled Baby. The New York-based artist has been known for her use of sym...Category
2010s Pop Art Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- KAWS Companion Flayed & Companion Editions Vinyl Figure Complete Set of 8 SealedBy KAWSLocated in Draper, UTPackage Dimensions 14.25 x 8.58 x 3.62 inches Item Weight 1.17 pounds Both Sculptures are in Pristine Condition and have been stored safely since 2016. The figures are both sealed ...Category
2010s Pop Art Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- Kaws Blush Set Flayed & Companion YUZ Museum China Decorative Figures Pop UrbanBy KAWSLocated in Draper, UTKAWS 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 a...Category
2010s Pop Art Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS "What Party" Brooklyn Vinyl Figure Street Art Yellow 20th AnniversaryBy KAWSLocated in Draper, UTKAWS Chum Vinyl Figure (20th Anniversary) Yellow Artist: KAWS Medium: Painted Rotocast Vinyl Title: Chum Vinyl Figure Yellow Portfolio: Chum Figures (20th Anniversary) Edition: Open edition Image Size: 11 1/2" × 7 3/4" × 3 1/2" Signed: Stamped Signature Each figure stands at 11.3 x 5.1 x 3.7 inches tall, and showcases the Chum character bent over...Category
2010s Street Art Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- Piet Parra "Pear On A Ledge" Eco Friendly Lamp Home Contemporary Art StreetBy Piet Parra 1Located in Draper, UTParra knows a fine bit of design when it sees it. The Amsterdam-based brand has long worked with Case Studyo to create striking homeware and collectibles, all leading up to a curvy new creation. Like the pair's collaborative Give Up tomato sculpture, Parra and Case Studyo's A Pear Lamp...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- 3D Little Big Space Invader Sculpture Limited Edition to 5000 Street ArtBy InvaderLocated in Draper, UTVinyl Edition of 5,000 28 x 20 x 4 cm (11 x 7.8 x 1.5 in) Signed on the base Mint. Comes in original Invader box Our mission is to connect art collectors to opportunity. Whether it ...Category
2010s Street Art Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl, Engraving
- KAWS WHAT PARTY Companion (KAWS black what party)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS WHAT PARTY Black: This KAWS Companion vinyl sculpture features KAWS' signature CHUM character in a sloping position. Published to commemora...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS Companion 2016: set of 4 works (KAWS companion set)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Companion 2016: set of 4 works: KAWS Brown full body and flayed; & KAWS Red Blush full body & flayed, 2016 - each, new and sealed in their original packaging. These iconic KAWS figures...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS Brown GONE (KAWS GONE brown & blue)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS GONE (Brown), new & unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of KAWS' large scale GONE sculpture - a key highlight of KAWS’ recent exhibition, 'KAWS: Companionship in the Age of Loneliness...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- Basquiat Bearbrick 400% set of 2 works (Warhol Basquiat BE@RBRICK 400%)By after Jean-Michel BasquiatLocated in NEW YORK, NYJean-Michel Basquiat & Andy Warhol Bearbrick Vinyl Figures: Set of two (400%): A unique, timeless collectible trademarked & licensed by the estates of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy W...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS Flayed Companion 2016 (KAWS brown flayed companion 2016)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Brown Flayed Companion 2016. New and sealed in its original packaging. Published by Medicom Japan in conjunction with the exhibition, KAWS: Wher...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS Companion 2016 (set of 3 KAWS Flayed companions)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Flayed Companion 2016: Set of 3 individual works. KAWS Black Flayed, KAWS Brown Flayed & KAWS Grey Flayed Companions - each, new and sealed in origin...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl, Resin
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.