KAWSTeapot2020
2020
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2020
- Dimensions:Height: 5.32 in (13.5 cm)Width: 8.08 in (20.5 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Bristol, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: LC-A1109e1stDibs: LU153129253332
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: Bristol, United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Pot Pop TopBy Javier CallejaLocated in Bristol, GBCeramic vase, crystal green eyes Edition of 500 Signature, edition, date with publishers embossed on bottom New, as issued. Minor imperfections may appear due to the nature of the ma...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsCeramic
- RecalibrateBy Loie HollowellLocated in Bristol, GBCeramic Edition of 250 Printed signature on the back and on the accompanying box Mint. Sold in original packagingCategory
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Sculptures
MaterialsCeramic
- Murmuration BoxLocated in Bristol, GBOriginal gunpowder drawing and porcelain bird sculpture, limited-edition copy exhibition catalogue Edition 26 of 50 Print is signed and number...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsPorcelain
- SerpentBy David ShrigleyLocated in Bristol, GBCeramic Edition of 250 Numbered on the base New, as issued Packaged in wooden box with COA Our mission is to connect art collectors to opportunity. Whether it be figurative, abstra...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsCeramic
- Piggy BankBy Grayson PerryLocated in Bristol, GBWhite ceramic piggy bank painted in blue and glazed, with rubber stopper Unknown edition size Stamped with artist's logo on the underside New. Sold...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Still-life Sculptures
MaterialsCeramic, Rubber
- Limited Ceramic Plate Set - Red (Set of 4)By KAWSLocated in Bristol, GBPorcelain Open edition Unsigned and unnumbered; stamped on underside of each plate Excellent. Scratch on box (approx. 4cm long). Small amount of residue on sheet under each plate Sol...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Sculptures
MaterialsPorcelain
- ErschöpfungBy Witalij FreseLocated in München, BY"Erschöpfung" (2022) is part of the exhibition "Connect and Disconnect", running from 20 May - 15 July 2022 at HELDENREIZER Contemporary. Visit the exhibition page on our website to...Category
2010s Contemporary Nude Sculptures
MaterialsCeramic
- Innere ZerrissenheitBy Witalij FreseLocated in München, BY"Innere Zerrissenheit" (2022) is part of the exhibition "Connect and Disconnect", running from 20 May - 15 July 2022 at HELDENREIZER Contemporary. Visit the exhibition page on our w...Category
2010s Contemporary More Art
MaterialsCeramic
- Blossom : No Sugar AddedLocated in Nashville, TNThis contemporary piece from Danielle Krysa asks the viewer if beauty can be born from the wreckage of whatever each of our personal setbacks may be. The piece was created for Krysa'...Category
2010s Contemporary Mixed Media
MaterialsBrass
- Richard “Dick” Hay VesselBy Richard Dick HayLocated in Lake Worth Beach, FLAdditional Information: Provenance: Artist. Richard Hay is in major museums worldwide. Marking(s); notes: signed Country of origin; materials: USA; earthenwareCategory
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary More Art
MaterialsEarthenware
- Richard “Dick” Hay VesselBy Richard Dick HayLocated in Lake Worth Beach, FLAdditional Information: Provenance: Artist. Richard Hay is in major museums worldwide. Marking(s); notes: signed Country of origin; materials: USA; slips, engobes and glazes on ear...Category
Late 20th Century Contemporary More Art
MaterialsEarthenware
- Serie: Serpentinata TremendaBy Pablo VigilLocated in Cuernavaca, MorelosGlazed ceramic sculpture Emerging artist. He develops his work in an encrypted, symbolic and baroque language; everything seems to come from inner worlds that implode and explode in ...Category
2010s Contemporary Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsEnamel
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.