KAWSKAWS WHAT PARTY pink (KAWS companion) 2020
2020
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year: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: LU35438193912
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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- KAWS Clean Slate Companion (KAWS brown clean slate)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Clean Slate (Brown), new & unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of KAWS' large scale Clean Slate sculpture - a key ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl, Resin
- KAWS Black Companions: set of 10 (KAWS Companion 2018-2021)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Companion 2018-2021: A curated set of 10 individual Black KAWS Companions new & unopened in original packaging. KAWS Clean Slate, 2018: 14.25 x 8 inches. KAWS Along The Way 2019: 10.5 x 9 inches. KAWS Holiday Space 2020: 11.5 inches in height. KAWS What Party: 11 x 5 inches. KAWS Holiday Taipei: 5.5 x 7 inches. KAWS Share: 12.4 x 6.3 inches. KAWS Separated 2021: 7.75 x 6 inches. KAWS BFF: 13 x 5.7 inches KAWS 2020...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl, Resin
- KAWS Changbai KAWS Singapore set of 2 works (KAWS holiday)By KAWSLocated in NEW YORK, NYKAWS Changbai & KAWS Singapore brown: set of 2 works: A set of 2 KAWS Holiday Companions, published on the occasion(s) of the debut of KAWS' larger-scal...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- Piet Mondrian Bearbrick 400% (Mondrian BE@RBRICK)By Piet MondrianLocated in NEW YORK, NYPiet Mondrian 400% & 100% Bearbrick: A unique, timeless Piet Mondrian collectible trademarked & licensed by the estate Piet Mondrian. The partnered collectible reveal the artist’s iconic 1921 grid imagery wrapping the figure in its entirety. The piece is housed in a standout Piet Mondrian collector's box. Bright vivid, highly decorative modern art imagery that stands out in any setting. Medium: Vinyl Figure. Year: 2021. Dimensions: 11 x 5 inches (includes a 1 inch companion figure of same). Condition: New and accompanied in its original box. Published by Medicom from a limited sold-out series of unknown. Licensed by the estate of Mondrian; stamped on the reverse. Further Background: BE@RBRICKs are a form of collectible toy that resemble a cross between LEGO and well, a bear. These block-style figurines boast teddy bear-style heads that have become an integral pillar of the collectible toy scene. In fact, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to say that it almost single-handedly carved out the fad of toy collecting in modern times, treading the very fine line between toy and art. Since its inception, BE@RBRICKs have become one of the most recognizable characters in the world, and some of the most sought after. Please note exact patterns may vary. Piet Mondrian was a Dutch artist famous for his iconic Composition series of grid paintings composed of black lines, white grounds, and primary colors. In Broadway Boogie...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- 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 Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- Warhol Basquiat Bearbrick 400% figure (Warhol Basquiat BE@RBRICK)By after Jean-Michel BasquiatLocated in NEW YORK, NYAndy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat Bearbrick Vinyl Figure: (400%) A unique, timeless collectible trademarked & licensed by the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat & Andy Warhol. The partnered collectible reveals details from Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol's 1985, "Dentures/Keep Frozen' painting wrapping the figure in its entirety. Housed in a unique Warhol, Basquiat collector's box. Highly collectible. Medium: Vinyl Figure. Year: 2021. Dimensions: 11 x 5 inches. Condition: New in its original packaging. Published by Medicom from a sold out limited edition of unknown. Further Background: BE@RBRICKs are a form of collectible toy that resemble a cross between LEGO and well, a bear. These block-style figurines boast teddy bear-style heads that have become an integral pillar of the collectible toy scene. In fact, it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to say that it almost single-handedly carved out the fad of toy collecting in modern times, treading the very fine line between toy and art. Since its inception, BE@RBRICKs have become one of the most recognizable characters in the world, and some of the most sought after. Obsessed with celebrity, consumer culture, and mechanical reproduction, Pop Art king, Andy Warhol created some of the 20th century’s most iconic images. Warhol was widely influenced by popular & consumer culture, with this being evident in some of his most famous works: 32 Campbell's soup cans, Brillo pad box sculptures, and portraits of Marilyn Monroe & Mick Jagger, for example. Rejecting the standard painting and sculpting modes of his era, Warhol embraced silk-screen printmaking to achieve his characteristic hard edges and flat areas of color. The artist mentored Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat and continues to influence contemporary art around the world: His most bold successors include Richard Prince, Takashi Murakami, and Jeff Koons. Warhol has been the subject of exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, and Centre Pompidou, among other institutions. Please note exact patterns mat vary. Related Categories Basquiat. Pop Art. Art toys. Kaws. Hebru Brantley. Bears. Kids room. Warhol Basquiat collaborations. Warhol Basquiat New Flame...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS - Along The Way - Grey Version - brand newBy KAWSLocated in Dallas, TXKAWS Along The Way - Grey version New & unopened in its original packaging. Medium: Vinyl & Cast Resin Provenance: Modern Art Museum of Fort WorthCategory
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS - Along The Way - Black Version - brand newBy KAWSLocated in Dallas, TXKAWS Along The Way - Black version New & unopened in its original packaging. Medium: Vinyl & Cast Resin Provenance: Modern Art Museum of Fort WorthCategory
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl, Resin
- KAWS - Gone - Black Version - collectible Pop ArtBy KAWSLocated in Dallas, TXKAWS Gone- Black version New on its original packaging. Medium: Vinyl & Cast ResinCategory
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS - Gone - Grey Version - collectible PopArtBy KAWSLocated in Dallas, TXKAWS Gone- Grey version New on its original packaging. Medium: Vinyl & Cast ResinCategory
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS - BFF - Pink Version _brand newBy KAWSLocated in Dallas, TXThis is a brand new piece in perfect condition. Several months after releasing the KAWS Share Figure in February, the artist released his long anticipated KAWS Take Figure. The fig...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- KAWS - FAMILY Figures - Black version - collectible Pop ArtBy KAWSLocated in Dallas, TXKAWS - FAMILY Figures - Black version New on its original packaging. Medium: Vinyl & Cast ResinCategory
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
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.