KAWSKAWS -- 400% Mad Hectic Kubrick, 20032003
2003
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2003
- Dimensions:Height: 9.85 in (25 cm)Width: 6.7 in (17 cm)Depth: 3.55 in (9 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:BRUCE, AU
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1918214287452
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: BRUCE, Australia
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Futura -- Nosferatu (Black/White), 2005By FuturaLocated in BRUCE, ACTFutura Nosferatu (Black/White), 2005 Painted cast vinyl 38.1 x 22.9 cm) Produced by 360 Toy Group Comes in original packaging.Category
Early 2000s Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- Damien Hirst -- Heart. Spin Painting, acrylic on paper, 2009By Damien HirstLocated in BRUCE, ACTDamien Hirst Heart, 2009 Spin Painting, acrylic on paper "Hirst" signature on the back. Embossed "HIRST" stamp Dimensions: 52 x 52 cm This work was produced for the inauguration...Category
Early 2000s Paintings
MaterialsAcrylic
- Hughes Claude PISSARRO -- Bouquet aux fleurs rougesBy Hughes Claude PissarroLocated in BRUCE, ACTHughes Claude PISSARRO -- Bouquet aux fleurs rouges Oil on canvas Image: 60.3x73cm Frame: Signed, also signed and titled on verso FramedCategory
Late 20th Century Still-life Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Salvador Dalí -- Homage to NewtonBy Salvador DalíLocated in BRUCE, ACTSalvador Dalí Homage to Newton Size: 35 x 16 x 11 cm Edition 197/350 patina brown Date conceived: 1980 First cast: 1980 Date cast: 2010 Material: br...Category
2010s Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- Salvador Dali - Fecundity - Bas Relief Silver Sculpture, 1977By Salvador DalíLocated in BRUCE, ACTSalvador Dali Fecundity - Bas Relief Silver Sculpture, 1977 Dimensions: 24 x 18 cm Framed: 38 x 33 cm Signed on the bas relief and printed signature on the certificate on the back. ...Category
1970s Sculptures
MaterialsSilver
- Jeff Koons -- Cracked Egg (Red)By Jeff KoonsLocated in BRUCE, ACTJeff Koons -- Cracked Egg (Red) Aluminium multiple with red glaze, 2008 From the edition of 1,000 Published by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, as an invitation f...Category
Early 2000s Sculptures
MaterialsStainless Steel
- AsteriaBy Roby Dwi AntonoLocated in Miami, FLRoby Dwi Antono Asteria, 2021 Vinyl 9 4/5 × 7 1/2 × 6 3/10 in Edition of 200Category
2010s Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- Indian Contemporary Art by Sumit Mehndiratta - Vibrant HypnosisBy Sumit MehndirattaLocated in Paris, IDFVinyl print on stainless steel Set of 12 Sumit Mehndiratta is an Indian artist born in 1986 who lives & works in New Delhi, India. He has pursued Master of Science in Internationa...Category
2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsSteel, Stainless Steel
- Complete Set of the "Changbai Mountain" KAWS Sculptures in 3 Colorways KoreaBy KAWSLocated in Draper, UTReleased as a special edition in Korea in conjunction with the Snowy Mountain installation (pictured) Set of 3 Sculptures in Original Packaging and Sealed Unused, Undisplayed, and Au...Category
2010s Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- Collaboration with Staple Vinyl Pigeon Grin Sculpture Ron English Rainbow PopBy Ron EnglishLocated in Draper, UTThe American pop iconoclast popularised by his signature fusion of varying cultural touchstones features themes from current pop icons to past historical art figures...Category
2010s Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- Complete Set of 2 Kachamukku Authentic KAWS Art SculpturesBy KAWSLocated in Draper, UTKAWS teamed up with Hirake! Ponkikki’s Gachapin and Mukku for the release of his Kachamukku figures. KAWS KACHAMUKKU figures released in a green and re...Category
2010s Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsNylon, Plastic, Vinyl
- Beauty of Rebellion Vinyl Sculpture with Detachable ArmsBy Abell OctovanLocated in Draper, UTThe Beauty Of Rebellion (Limited Edition) 12” Polystone Art Collectible By Abell Octovan. Set to challenge the notion of beauty in todays society, the ...Category
2010s Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
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.