KAWS, What Party - Chum in Pink, Painted Cast Vinyl Sculpture, 2020
View Similar Items
KAWSKAWS, What Party - Chum in Pink, Painted Cast Vinyl Sculpture, 20202020
2020
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2020
- Dimensions:Height: 11.3 in (28.7 cm)Width: 5.08 in (12.9 cm)Depth: 3.67 in (9.3 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1608210355912
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.
- Untitled - From General Fun By Eduardo PaolozziBy Eduardo PaolozziLocated in London, GBUntitled - From General Fun By Eduardo Paolozzi Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was a pioneering Scottish artist and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. Renowned for his co...Category
1970s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- After Christopher Wool, Untitled (The Show is Over), 1993By Christopher WoolLocated in London, GBAfter Christopher Wool, Untitled (The Show is Over), Offset Lithograph on Paper, 1993 Offset lithograph on white poster paper Excellent conditi...Category
20th Century Contemporary Prints and Multiples
MaterialsPaper, Lithograph, Offset
- Coasts Of Illusion - Moonstrips Empire News By Eduardo PaolozziBy Eduardo PaolozziLocated in London, GBCoasts Of Illusion - Moonstrips Empire News By Eduardo Paolozzi Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was a pioneering Scottish artist and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. Ren...Category
1960s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsScreen
- Untitled 2 (Moonstrips) By Eduardo PaolozziBy Eduardo PaolozziLocated in London, GBUntitled 2 (Moonstrips) By Eduardo Paolozzi Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was a pioneering Scottish artist and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. Renowned for his collag...Category
1960s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Dog And Mug By Eduardo PaolozziBy Eduardo PaolozziLocated in London, GBDog And Mug By Eduardo Paolozzi Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was a pioneering Scottish artist and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. Renowned for his collage works, he ...Category
1970s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- California Coleslaw By Eduardo PaolozziBy Eduardo PaolozziLocated in London, GBCalifornia Coleslaw By Eduardo Paolozzi Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was a pioneering Scottish artist and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. Renowned for his collage wo...Category
1970s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Miami Graffiti Legend Ahol Sniffs Glue Large Spray Painting on Doors SculptureBy Ahol Sniffs GlueLocated in Surfside, FLAhol Sniffs Glue David Anasagasti (Cuban American, born 1980). An original graffiti painting on found object, produced for the artist's "Geographies Of Trash" movement. The work features the artist's signature purple "sleepy eye...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Abstract Paintings
MaterialsWood, Mixed Media, Spray Paint
- PATTY (SCULPTURE)Located in Aventura, FLMixed media sculpture. Printed artist signature and hand numbered on the underside of the sculpture. Signed and numbered certificate of authenticity by the artist. Includes origin...Category
2010s Street Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- DFACE DDog (Orange)By D*FaceLocated in Englishtown, NJSuper vibrant D*Face D*Dog in Orange. D*Dog is the iconic character created by D*face that is the focus of and featured in many of the artists works. Released in 2013. The wings are ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl
- street art artist Bustart "Skate Pop Love" Pop Art print on skatedeckBy BustartLocated in New York, NYSkatedeck edition of 100 - wrapped in plastic In 1999 BustArt began his artistic career with classic Graffiti. Until 2005, he became familiar with the whole spectrum of Graffiti and...Category
2010s Street Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsAcrylic, Wood Panel
- Limited Edition Historic 1st Companion Ever (Hand Signed and Dated '00 by KAWS)By KAWSLocated in New York, NYHistoric Collectors item! RARELY found hand signed by the artist. KAWS Limited Edition 1st Companion (Hand Signed by KAWS), 1999 Painted Cast Vinyl (Hand Signed & Dated by KAWS) 7 3...Category
1990s Street Art Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsPaint, Mixed Media, Permanent Marker, Resin, Plastic, Board, Offset
- Break The Bank (Black Ed. - Swarovski / 600)Located in Dallas, TX“Art by Bankrupt” is a contemporary mixed-media artist originally from Central Florida. ... In an all-or-nothing play, Art by Bankrupt took a gamble an...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Street Art Figurative Sculptures
MaterialsVinyl, PVC, Plastic
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.