KAWSKAWS BFF Blue, Best Friend Forever 2017 Figure2017
2017
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2017
- Dimensions:Height: 13.19 in (33.5 cm)Width: 5.71 in (14.5 cm)Depth: 1.28 in (3.25 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Draper, UT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU132725479212
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: Atlanta, GA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
- Kaws Blush Set Flayed & Companion YUZ Museum China Decorative Figures Pop UrbanBy KAWSLocated in Draper, UTKAWS is a multi-faceted artist straddling the worlds of art and design in his prolific body of work that ranges from paintings, murals, and large-scale sculptures to product design a...Category
2010s Pop Art Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Vinyl
- Hajime Sorayama Sexy Robot Floating Black Contemporary Art LED LightLocated in Draper, UTSexy Robot Floating (Black), 2020 PVC, plated resin, alloy, and LED light 22 × 14 × 14 in 55.9 × 35.6 × 35.6 cm Edition of only 250.Category
2010s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsMetal
- Javier Calleja "No Art Here" Sculpture Pop Contemporary Art StreetBy Javier CallejaLocated in Draper, UTJavier Calleja is showcasing a fresh crop of paintings and sculptures in NANZUKA’s 2G gallery and the dealer’s emerging outpost, 3110NZ by LDH Kitchen, ...Category
2010s Pop Art Still-life Sculptures
MaterialsSteel
- James Jean Washizu Resin and Polystone Figure Produced for Staple with COABy James JeanLocated in Draper, UTInspired by Japanese film maestro Akira Kurosawa’s 1957 masterpiece—Throne of Blood, this beautiful pigeon sculpt with a volley of arrows pierced throu...Category
2010s Surrealist Sculptures
MaterialsResin, PVC
- Miss Bugs Do Not Harm Resin Lollypop Sculptures Set of 3 Contemporary ArtBy Miss BugsLocated in Draper, UTSet of 3 Handmade Resin Ice Lolly with various accruements such as a used Syringe, pills, and razor blades Each Presented in a Custom Box. 2021 Unnumbered se...Category
2010s Sculptures
MaterialsResin
- Yoshitomo Nara 123 Drumming Girls Set Contemporary Art SculpturesBy Yoshitomo NaraLocated in Draper, UTThis 123 Drumming Girl Collectible Object exemplifies the aesthetic of its creator, Yoshitomo Nara: naive and cute but with an edgy undercurrent dri...Category
2010s Contemporary Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Acrylic
- Pop Art-Figurative Animal Sculpture- Rabbit of the Moon No.2Located in Beijing, CNDescription Xu Ming (B.1983) Rabbit of the Moon No.2 Resin, electroplating 27 x 12x 12 cm Dated 2021 The artwork comes with an COA About Xu Ming Emerging artist Xu Ming was born in 1983 in Changchun, China. He earned his M.A at Jilin University of Arts. Xu once worked for famous established Chinese contemporary artist Fang Lijun...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Coating
- Pop Art - Figurative Animal Sculpture- Moon Rabbit Version Van Gogh No.1Located in Beijing, CNDescription Xu Ming (B.1983) Moon Rabbit Version Van Gogh No.1 Resin, electroplating 165 x 80 x 80 cm Dated 2021 The artwork comes with an COA About Xu Ming Emerging artist Xu Ming was born in 1983 in Changchun, China. He earned his M.A at Jilin University of Arts. Xu once worked for famous established Chinese contemporary artist Fang Lijun...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Coating
- Pop Art - Figurative Animal Sculpture- Moon Rabbit Version Van Gogh No.2Located in Beijing, CNDescription Xu Ming (B.1983) Moon Rabbit Version Van Gogh No.2 Resin, electroplating 165 x 80 x 80 cm Dated 2021 The artwork comes with an COA About Xu Ming Emerging artist Xu Ming was born in 1983 in Changchun, China. He earned his M.A at Jilin University of Arts. Xu once worked for famous established Chinese contemporary artist Fang Lijun...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsResin, Coating
- Balloon Swan ( After ) - PinkBy After Jeff KoonsLocated in Pampilhosa da Serra, PTA one time exclusive re-edition of 500 pcs from the highly popular "Balloon Swan". Cold cast resin, comes with its original box and certificate of authenticity. From a Limited Editi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsMetal
- Balloon Swan ( After ) - Graphite BlackBy After Jeff KoonsLocated in Pampilhosa da Serra, PTA one time exclusive re-edition of 500 pcs from the highly popular "Balloon Swan". Cold cast resin, comes with its original box and certificate of authenticity. From a Limited Editi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsMetal
- Balloon Swan ( After ) - RedBy After Jeff KoonsLocated in Pampilhosa da Serra, PTA one time exclusive re-edition of 500 pcs from the highly popular "Balloon Swan". Cold cast resin, comes with its original box and certificate of authenticity. From a Limited Editi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Pop Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsMetal
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.