Passing Through, open edition - brown
View Similar Items
KAWSPassing Through, open edition - brown 2018
2018
About the Item
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.
- Poopy Pants (Stop Being Poor) by Joan CorneliaLocated in London, GBVinyl sculpture, as new condition. Sold in original publisher box and packaging, as issued.Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPlastic
- All Over Dot Plate by Damien HirstBy (after) Damien HirstLocated in London, GBAll Over Dot Plate by Damien Hirst 2022 Plate: 10 inch diameter (25.4 cm) Box: 13 x 13 inches Medium: English Fine Bone China, screen–printed with a vibrant Currency Dot design...Category
2010s Abstract Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsCeramic, Screen
- I Must Rest Now, My Rampage Is Over (Sculpture) By David ShrigleyBy David ShrigleyLocated in London, GBMust Rest My Rampage Is Over (Sculpture) By David Shrigley David Shrigley is a British artist known for his darkly humorous and satirical drawings, animations, and sculptures, ofte...Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsCeramic
- Untitled (Coca Cola) By AI WeiweiBy Ai WeiweiLocated in London, GBUntitled (Coca Cola) By AI Weiwei Ai Weiwei is a renowned Chinese contemporary artist and activist whose diverse body of work spans sculpture, installations, and social commentary...Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPaper
- Rich AirwaysBy Alec MonopolyLocated in London, GBAlec Monopoly Rich Airways Year: 2021 Medium:Painted Cast Vinyl Dimension:18x14x13 inches / 46x36x33 cm Limited edition (of 250) Includes: Box + Certificate of Authenticity.Category
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- Peckham Rock by BanksyBy BanksyLocated in London, GBWood Sculpture 4.70 x 7.10 x 0.14 in 11.9 x 18.0 x 0.4 cm This edition is authorised by Pest Control / Banksy and was created for the British Museum as part of the iObject exhibit...Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsWood
Sold$1,213
- Contemporary Spanish Artist, Pop Art Sculpture Big Gummy Bear Pink by Demo 2022Located in BARCELONA, ESEladio de Mora-Granados, dEmo, is one of the most original creators on the Spanish art scene. Born in Mora, Toledo, in 1960. A self-taught artist, dEmo's concerns began when he conc...Category
2010s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsResin, Fiberglass
- Contemporary Spanish Artist Pop Art Sculpture Big Gummy Bear Purple by Demo 2022Located in BARCELONA, ESEladio de Mora-Granados, dEmo, is one of the most original creators on the Spanish art scene. Born in Mora, Toledo, in 1960. A self-taught artist, dEmo's concerns began when he conc...Category
2010s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsResin, Fiberglass
- Contemporary Spanish Artist, Pop Art Sculpture Big Gummy Bear Blue by Demo 2022Located in BARCELONA, ESEladio de Mora-Granados, dEmo, is one of the most original creators on the Spanish art scene. Born in Mora, Toledo, in 1960. A self-taught artist, dEmo's concerns began when he conc...Category
2010s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsResin, Fiberglass
- Contemporary Spanish Artist, Pop Art Sculpture Gummy Bear Green by Demo 2022Located in BARCELONA, ESEladio de Mora-Granados, dEmo, is one of the most original creators on the Spanish art scene. Born in Mora, Toledo, in 1960. A self-taught artist, dEmo's concerns began when he conc...Category
2010s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsResin, Fiberglass
- Contemporary Spanish Artist, Pop Art Sculpture Big Duck Yellow by Demo 2022Located in BARCELONA, ESEladio de Mora-Granados, dEmo, is one of the most original creators on the Spanish art scene. Born in Mora, Toledo, in 1960. A self-taught artist, dEmo's concerns began when he conc...Category
2010s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsResin, Fiberglass
- OG SLICK - Love Gloves Vinyl Figure Black - Edition of 500Located in Dallas, TXLOVE GLOVES VINYL FIGURE: SLICK EDITION Matte Black w/Gloss Black Accents Edition of 500 Size: 5 Inches H x 10 Inches W (12.7cm x 25.4cm) SOLD OUT - Slick Edition Brand new in perfect condition. Slick’s work has been presented in a variety of spaces, including the exhibitions: Art In The Streets at MOCA (Los Angeles, CA), LA Heat at Chinese American Museum (Los Angeles, CA), Beyond The Streets (Los Angeles, CA), Roll Call at LA Louver (Venice, CA), California Locos Masters Of Style at Eastern Projects (Los Angeles, CA) and Into Action, a social justice festival of art and ideas (Los Angeles, CA). It has also been documented in numerous publications and books such as: Graffiti LA, Mascots & Mugs and The History of Los Angeles Graffiti Art. Other commissions and clients include: Adidas, Levi’s, Microsoft, Disney, LA Lakers...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsPlastic, 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.