KAWS GONE & KAWS BFF Companions (set of 2 works)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS GONE Grey & KAWS Pink BFF Companions (set of 2 works 2017-2019): Medium: Vinyl paint & Cast
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS BFF Companions (KAWS BFF vinyl Set of 2)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS Black & Pink BFF (set of 2) new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS BFF set of 3 works (KAWS BFF Companion set)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS BFF 2018: Complete Set of 3 (Pink, Black, and Blue). Each, new/unopened in their original
Resin, Vinyl
$1,650
H 13.4 in W 6.3 in D 5.12 in
KAWS Take Figure, Pink BFF Companion, Resin and Vinyl Paint, 2010+
By KAWS
Located in Dallas, TX
anticipated KAWS Take Figure. The figure, which features a blue BFF holding a brown Companion, is the inverse
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS BFF Vinyl Companions (KAWS Set of 2)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS BFF Blue & Pink (set of 2), each new, unopened in original packaging. KAWS BFF is a well
Resin, Vinyl
BFF (Pink)
By KAWS
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: KAWS, Title: BFF (Pink) Series: Toys Date: 2018 Medium: Sculpture Unframed Dimensions
PVC
BFF Pink
By KAWS
Located in Düsseldorf, DE
. A well-received work and variation of KAWS’ large-scale BFF sculpture is in Los Angeles’s Playa
Plastic, Vinyl
KAWS Pink BFF
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Kaws Pink BFF new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of Kaws
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF (KAWS Pink BFF vinyl)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Rare KAWS BFF Pink new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF Plush (Kaws BFF plush limited edition)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS BFF Plush Companion (KAWS Pink BFF Plush) New in its original packaging. As only 3,000 pieces
Mixed Media
KAWS BFF (Set of 3, Kaws Pink, Black, Blue BFF)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Kaws BFF 2018: Set of 3 (Pink, Black, and Blue). Each, new/unopened in their original packaging: A
Resin
KAWS BFF Plush: set of 2 (KAWS pink KAWS black BFF)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS BFF Companion Plush: Set of 2 (2016 & 2019) Each new in its original packaging. Black created
Mixed Media
BFF Pink
By KAWS
Located in Manchester, GB
KAWS, BFF Pink, 2018 Painted Vinyl & Cast Resin Published by Medicom Japan 13 x 5.7 x 3.25 in
Resin
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
Companion figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS - SHARE Hand signed & numbered - Modern Art Companion & Pink BFF Grey Pink
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
figure holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear. ABOUT THE
Paper, Screen
Sold
H 20.01 in W 15.99 in
KAWS: SHARE limited edition screen print - Modern art, Companion & Pink BFF
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
holds a small, and also iconic, pink BFF just like a child holds is lovely teddy bear. ABOUT THE ARTIST
Screen, Paper
KAWS Pink BFF
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Kaws Pink BFF new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of Kaws
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Kaws Pink BFF new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of Kaws
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF (Kaws Companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Kaws Pink BFF new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of Kaws
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF (KAWS Pink BFF vinyl)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Rare KAWS BFF Pink new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF (KAWS Pink BFF vinyl, KAWS Companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Rare KAWS BFF Pink new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF (KAWS Pink BFF vinyl, KAWS Companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Rare KAWS BFF Pink new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF Plush (Kaws BFF plush limited edition)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS BFF Plush Companion (KAWS Pink BFF Plush) New in its original packaging. As only 3,000 pieces
Mixed Media
KAWS Pink BFF (KAWS BFF pink)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Rare KAWS BFF Pink new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF (KAWS BFF pink)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Rare KAWS BFF Pink new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of
Resin
KAWS Pink BFF (KAWS BFF pink)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Rare KAWS BFF Pink new, unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of
Resin
KAWS GONE Grey (KAWS grey pink gone companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
) Related Categories Art toys. Kaws Companion. Kaws pink bff. Kaws take. Kaws share. Bearbrick. Hebru
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS GONE Grey (KAWS grey pink gone companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Categories Art toys. Kaws Companion. Kaws pink bff. Kaws take. Kaws share. Bearbrick. Hebru Brantley. Takashi
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS BFF (Set of 3, Kaws Pink, Black, Blue BFF)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS BFF 2018: Complete Set of 3 (Pink, Black, and Blue). Each, new/unopened in their original
Resin
KAWS BFF set of 3 works (KAWS Pink, Black, Blue BFF)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS BFF 2018: Complete Set of 3 (Pink, Black, and Blue). Each, new/unopened in their original
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS BFF (Set of 3, Kaws Pink, Black, Blue BFF)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Kaws BFF 2018: Set of 3 (Pink, Black, and Blue). Each, new/unopened in their original packaging: A
Resin
KAWS - BFF - Plush Pink_limited edition
By KAWS
Located in Dallas, TX
a blue BFF holding a brown Companion, is the inverse of the KAWS Share Figure which shows a brown
Fabric
KAWS - BFF - Pink Version _brand new
By KAWS
Located in Dallas, TX
a blue BFF holding a brown Companion, is the inverse of the KAWS Share Figure which shows a brown
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS - Take Figure - Pink Version _BFF Companion
By KAWS
Located in Dallas, TX
anticipated KAWS Take Figure. The figure, which features a blue BFF holding a brown Companion, is the inverse
Resin, Vinyl
Sold
H 13.19 in W 5.71 in D 3.27 in
KAWS: BFF (Pink) - Original Vinyl Sculpture, Street art, Pop Art. MOMA
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
BFF (Pink) Date of creation: 2018 Medium: Sculpture Media: Vinyl Edition: Open Size: 33.5 x 14.5 x
Plastic
KAWS BFF Vinyl Companions (KAWS Set of 2)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS BFF Blue & Pink (set of 2), each new, unopened in original packaging. KAWS BFF is a well
Resin, Vinyl
Sold
H 13.19 in W 5.71 in D 3.27 in
KAWS: BFF (Pink) - Original Vinyl Sculpture, Street art, Pop Art. MOMA
By KAWS
Located in Madrid, Madrid
BFF (Pink) Date of creation: 2018 Medium: Sculpture Media: Vinyl Edition: Open Size: 33.5 x 14.5 x
Plastic
KAWS GONE Grey (KAWS grey & pink gone companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS Grey GONE, new & unopened in its original packaging (KAWS Grey & Pink GONE). This standout
Resin, Vinyl
$27,500 / set
H 27.5 in W 37.5 in D 37.5 in
Mario Bellini for C&B Italia First Edition 'Camaleonda' Modular Sofa, 1970
By C&B Italia, Mario Bellini
Located in New York, NY
'Camaleonda' First Edition modular sofa, designed by Mario Bellini, for C&B Italia, 1970. The structure is constructed of wood and upholstery in fabric. Original label. Prod. C&B,...
Fabric, Wood
$2,000
H 11 in W 5 in
Basquiat Warhol Haring Bearbrick 400%: set of 6 works (Basquiat BE@RBRICK)
By (after) Keith Haring
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Jean Michel Basquiat Andy Warhol Keith Haring Bearbrick 400%: set of 6 individual works: A set of 6 unique, timeless pop art collectibles trademarked & licensed by the estates of Jea...
Resin, Vinyl
$1,250
H 7.5 in W 5.5 in
Hebru Brantley Flyboy Hebru Brantley Gaia set of 2 (Hebru Brantley art toys)
By Hebru Brantley
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Hebru Brantley GAIA (Hebru Brantley Lil Mama as Gaia) / Hebru Brantley FLYBOY: a set of 2 works: Vinyl figures: 2 individual works. c.2017 (flyboy) & 2021 (gaia). Gaia: 7.5 x 5.5 i...
Vinyl
KAWS Clean Slate Grey (KAWS grey Companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS Clean Slate (grey) new & unopened in its original packaging. A well-received work and variation of KAWS' large scale Clean Slate sculpture - a key highlight of KAWS’ major...
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS Tension Bearbrick 400% (KAWS Tension Be@rbrick)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS Tension Bearbrick 400%: This much sought-after KAWS Tension Be@rbrick figure features the artist's signature "X"’s and bright lush colors synonymous with his more abstract works...
Resin, Vinyl
Hebru Brantley Flyboy (Hebru Brantley art toy)
By Hebru Brantley
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Hebru Brantley Flyboy, 2018. New in its original packaging. Medium: Painted cast vinyl. Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 4 inches (22.9 x 20.3 x 10.2 cm). New, never displayed; accompanied by ...
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS SEPARATED Companion (KAWS black Separated Companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS SEPARATED COMPANION: New & unopened in its original packaging: This highly collectible black KAWS SEPARATED figure is derived from the Brooklyn based artist’s larger scale s...
Resin, Vinyl
$21,254
H 31.5 in W 157.49 in D 59.06 in
Verner Panton Cloverleaf Sofa 3 Parts in 'Harald 3 #982' by Kvadrat for Verpan
By Verner Panton
Located in Tilburg, NL
Verner Panton cloverleaf sectional sofa. Current production. This listing shows a 3-piece Cloverleaf Sofa in dark green 'Harald 3 #982' by Kvadrat. Seats 5 people in a very interesti...
Fabric, Wood
$725
H 8 in W 9 in D 4 in
Hebru Brantley Flyboy black & gold (Hebru Brantley black flyboy)
By Hebru Brantley
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Hebru Brantley Flyboy, 2017. New, never displayed; accompanied by original packaging. Medium: Painted cast vinyl. Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 4 inches (22.9 x 20.3 x 10.2 cm). New and sea...
Resin, Vinyl
$3,424Sale Price|25% Off
H 8.27 in W 5.01 in D 3.55 in
KAWS x Peanuts Joe Snoopy Vinyl Figure
By KAWS
Located in BRUCE, ACT
KAWS x Peanuts Joe Snoopy Vinyl Figure, 2011 The KAWS x Peanuts Joe Snoopy Vinyl Figure stands about 21 cm tall, and the mostly white Joe Snoopy is donning a yellow t-shirt with "JOE...
Vinyl
KAWS MONSTER (KAWS Companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS Frankenberry Monster: A highly collectible & super decorative KAWS art toy, featuring the famed cereal character: Frankenberry. A playful exploration of KAWS’s love for thi...
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS BFF Black (KAWS BFF Companion)
By KAWS
Located in London, GB
KAWS KAWS BFF Black (KAWS BFF Companion), 2017 Vinyl and cast resin sculpture Signature to feet Presented in original box, and accompanied by unique hologram authenticity number 13...
Resin
KAWS CHUM companion (KAWS orange Chum)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS CHUM Companion 2022 (orange): Published by KAWS to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his famed KAWS’ Chum character; "I can remember clearly packing and shipping the first CHU...
Resin, Vinyl
$4,000
H 8 in W 9 in
Hebru Brantley Flyboy set of 4 works (Hebru Brantley art toys)
By Hebru Brantley
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Hebru Brantley Art Toy collection: 2018/2022. Set of 4: Hebru Brantley art toys, each new in original packaging: Composed of three 2017 Hebru Brantley Flyboy's & one Hebru Brantl...
Resin, Vinyl
KAWS Holiday Taipei (KAWS Black Companion)
By KAWS
Located in NEW YORK, NY
KAWS Black Holiday Companion (KAWS Taipei) This figurative vinyl sculpture features KAWS' signature character COMPANION in a resting seated position. Published by All Rights Reserve...
Resin, Vinyl
Hebru Brantley Flyboy (Hebru Brantley art toy)
By Hebru Brantley
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Hebru Brantley Flyboy Pop Art Sculpture / Hebru Brantley Beyond the Beyond, 2018. New in its original packaging. Medium: Painted cast vinyl. Dimensions: 9 x 8 x 4 inches (22.9 x 20...
Resin, Vinyl
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.
Perhaps one of the most influential contemporary art movements, Pop art emerged in the 1950s. In stark contrast to traditional artistic practice, its practitioners drew on imagery from popular culture — comic books, advertising, product packaging and other commercial media — to create original Pop art paintings, prints and sculptures that celebrated ordinary life in the most literal way.
ORIGINS OF POP ART
CHARACTERISTICS OF POP ART
POP ARTISTS TO KNOW
ORIGINAL POP ART ON 1STDIBS
The Pop art movement started in the United Kingdom as a reaction, both positive and critical, to the period’s consumerism. Its goal was to put popular culture on the same level as so-called high culture.
Richard Hamilton’s 1956 collage Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? is widely believed to have kickstarted this unconventional new style.
Pop art works are distinguished by their bold imagery, bright colors and seemingly commonplace subject matter. Practitioners sought to challenge the status quo, breaking with the perceived elitism of the previously dominant Abstract Expressionism and making statements about current events. Other key characteristics of Pop art include appropriation of imagery and techniques from popular and commercial culture; use of different media and formats; repetition in imagery and iconography; incorporation of mundane objects from advertisements, cartoons and other popular media; hard edges; and ironic and witty treatment of subject matter.
Although British artists launched the movement, they were soon overshadowed by their American counterparts. Pop art is perhaps most closely identified with American Pop artist Andy Warhol, whose clever appropriation of motifs and images helped to transform the artistic style into a lifestyle. Most of the best-known American artists associated with Pop art started in commercial art (Warhol made whimsical drawings as a hobby during his early years as a commercial illustrator), a background that helped them in merging high and popular culture.
Roy Lichtenstein was another prominent Pop artist that was active in the United States. Much like Warhol, Lichtenstein drew his subjects from print media, particularly comic strips, producing paintings and sculptures characterized by primary colors, bold outlines and halftone dots, elements appropriated from commercial printing. Recontextualizing a lowbrow image by importing it into a fine-art context was a trademark of his style. Neo-Pop artists like Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami further blurred the line between art and popular culture.
Pop art rose to prominence largely through the work of a handful of men creating works that were unemotional and distanced — in other words, stereotypically masculine. However, there were many important female Pop artists, such as Rosalyn Drexler, whose significant contributions to the movement are recognized today. Best known for her work as a playwright and novelist, Drexler also created paintings and collages embodying Pop art themes and stylistic features.
Read more about the history of Pop art and the style’s famous artists, and browse the collection of original Pop art paintings, prints, photography and other works for sale on 1stDibs.