Holiday Space (Black)
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KAWSHoliday Space (Black)2020
2020
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2020
- Dimensions:Height: 11.42 in (29 cm)Width: 5.12 in (13 cm)Depth: 4.53 in (11.5 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Bristol, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: LC-A1296c1stDibs: LU153127920372
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.
- Pinocchio & Jiminy CricketBy KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPainted cast vinyl Edition of 500 (reported) 26 x 13.5 x 12 / 5.7 x 3 x 2.5 cm (10.2 x 5.3 x 4.7 / 2.2 x 1.2 x 1.1 in) Not signed or numbered Excellent, very minor scratch to Pinocch...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPlastic, Vinyl
- Take (Black) KAWS Sculpture Black Contemporary Modern Art DesignBy KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPainted cast vinyl Open edition Stamped on the underside of the feet New, as issued. Some minor imperfections may exist given the nature of the material Comes in the original boxCategory
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MaterialsPlastic, Vinyl
- BFF Plush Doll (Black)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPolyester Edition of 3,000 Numbered on attached swing tag New, as issued, slight abrasion on base of box, this does not effect the figure. Some minor imperfections may exist to the ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPolyester
- Holiday Hong Kong Plush (Set of three)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPolyester plush Edition of 2,000 Unsigned, numbered on swing tag New, as issued. Some minor imperfections may exist given the nature of the material. Packaging may have some minor we...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPolyester
- Holiday Japan 8" Mount Fuji Plush - Blue & Pink (Set of Two)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPolyester Fur (100% Polyester) Open edition Unsigned, numbered on swing tag New, as issued. Some minor imperfections may exist given the nature of the material Sold in the original p...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPolyester
- Cat Teeth Bank (Orange)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPainted Cast Vinyl Edition of 400 (unnumbered, reported) Stamped on base Excellent, in very good condition overall with minor blemishes to the vinyl as per usual with works of this m...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl, Plastic
- Giraffe - Monumental Contemporary Resin Outdoor SculptureBy MarikoLocated in Miami, FLMariko’s sculptures are unique and monumental contemporary pieces made of resin and reinforced with an inside metallic structure, finished with a bi-component urethane paint, extreme...Category
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MaterialsResin, Automotive Paint, Polyurethane
- Giraffe - Monumental Contemporary Resin Outdoor SculptureBy MarikoLocated in Miami, FLMariko’s sculptures are unique and monumental contemporary pieces made of resin and reinforced with an inside metallic structure, finished with a bi-component urethane paint, extreme...Category
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MaterialsResin, Automotive Paint, Polyurethane
- Giraffe - Monumental Contemporary Resin Outdoor SculptureBy MarikoLocated in Miami, FLMariko’s sculptures are unique and monumental contemporary pieces made of resin and reinforced with an inside metallic structure, finished with a bi-component urethane paint, extreme...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Automotive Paint, Polyurethane
- MarriageBy Andrés AmayaLocated in Cuernavaca, MorelosReinforced polymer (FV) and acrylic polyurethane. Edition 2 of 9Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPolyester, Acrylic Polymer, Polyurethane
- Dana Bloom, Measurement, Currently presented at the Tel Aviv BiennaleLocated in Tel Aviv, ILDana Bloom's Measurement features a gilded human figure that challenges the viewers' perception of presence and absence, while exuding a dreamlike, timeless...Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsFoil, Gold Leaf
- La lagartona de tu amigaBy Andrés AmayaLocated in Cuernavaca, MorelosPolyurethane Sculpture.Category
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MaterialsPolyurethane
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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.