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.
KAWS "Urge" Portfolio of 10 Silkscreens with Additional Silkscreened Title Page
By KAWS
Located in Stamford, CT
Based off of a series of paintings currently showing at the Brooklyn Museum. The limited edition works consist of 10 high quality screen prints portraying his signature CHUM characte...
Paper
$145,000
Super Model #1 & #2 by KAWS
By KAWS
Located in Stamford, CT
A pair of early prints by KAWS being sold together. Supermodel #1 1999 Supermodel #2, 1999 Screen prints signed in pencil, numbered and dated 99. The prints are matched numbered ...
Paper
$175
H 18 in W 12 in D 0.004 in
"The Lightness of Being" Figurative Archival Print on Textured Watercolor Paper
By Louis Shields
Located in Middleburg, VA
Offered is a luminous limited edition print by artist Louis Shields, titled "The Lightness of Being." Created as part of Shields' 2018 Dancer Se...
Paper, Paint
$760Sale Price|20% Off
H 26.13 in W 33.63 in D 1.13 in
Framed Lithograph Landscape with View of the Lake and Boats Signed
By Henri Martin
Located in Miami, FL
A very colorful lithograph professionally framed, signed. This interesting work of art is attributed to Bernard Gatner. Will enhance any space. Measures: 26 1/8" H x 33 5/8" W x 1...
Paper
$578 / item
H 18.9 in W 15.36 in D 0.04 in
DESENHO – Silkscreen Print, Limited Edition by Álvaro Siza Vieira
By Alvaro Siza
Located in Lisboa, Lisboa
Desenho (Man Painting) - The painting shows someone who begins a drawing, looking on the paper with a pen in the hand. Álvaro Siza describes the very special moment of taking the decision to make a painting, facing the white paper. A reproduction of his situation, doing this series of paintings: not knowing what to do until the decision to draw was being made. Then the idea of mythology came to his mind. “It is, in some way, an expression of my personal moment making drawings. But it is not a self-portrait, I am quite different than this man. It is not a specific person on purpose, because everyone makes drawings. Maybe not everyone does it, but everyone could do it.” Álvaro Siza started drawing at the age of six. With a great variety of drawings on his portfolio, many of them are inspired by mythology and historic scenes. “The drawings are what came to my mind in this very moment. I like mythology and expressing the stories in images. I have made a lot of mythological drawing...
Paper
Surrealist Framed Print by Bruce Richards
By Bruce Richards
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Surrealist framed print by Bruce Richards (American, born 1948): "Witness (Man Ray)". Numbered 2/45 and signed Bruce Richards '92.
Ink, Paper
$175
H 12 in W 18 in D 0.004 in
"Flight" by Louis Shields Figurative Archival Print on Textured Watercolor Paper
By Louis Shields
Located in Middleburg, VA
Offered is an eye-catching limited edition archival print by artist Louis Shields, titled "Flight." Part of Shields' 2018 Dancer Series, this dynamic composition captures the fleetin...
Paper, Paint
$578 / item
H 18.9 in W 15.36 in D 0.04 in
CAVALO DE TROIA – Silkscreen Print, Limited Edition by Álvaro Siza Vieira
By Alvaro Siza
Located in Lisboa, Lisboa
Cavalo de Troia (The Trojan Horse) - The drawing is a representation of the wooden horse, developed by Odysseus, which the Greeks used during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy. The Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy, not knowing there was a selected force of men hiding inside, who came out after reaching the city. Álvaro Siza started drawing at the age of six. With a great variety of drawings on his portfolio, many of them are inspired by mythology and historic scenes. “The drawings are what came to my mind in this very moment. I like mythology and expressing the stories in images. I have made a lot of mythological drawing...
Paper
$93,516Sale Price|20% Off
H 63.78 in W 47.64 in D 1.97 in
"Love Saves The Day" Harland Miller, 2014 15 Color Silkscreen Print
Located in London, GB
"Love Saves The Day" Harland Miller, 2014 15 color silkscreen print on 410gsm Somerset paper 146 cm x 105 cm page size Edition 100 signed and numbered in pencil. One of the top...
Paper
David Byrne Bulwark of Logic Limited Edition Print
By Phaidon
Located in New York, NY
Print Archival pigment print Measures: 20.00 x 16.00 in 50.8 x 40.6 cm Edition of 100 This work is signed on a label on the verso. David Byrne, legendary frontman of American band The Talking Heads and author of How Music Works, was born in Dumbarton, Scotland in 1952. Byrne is a multi-intrumentalist most known for his high-energy performances and distinctive, wide-ranging voice. He formed The Talking Heads with fellow RISD student, Chris Frantz, and Frantz's girlfriend, Tina Weymouth, in 1975 while living in New York City. In 1990 he founded the world music record label Luaka Bop, which released music from artists including Os Mutantes, Tom Ze, and Zap Mama. Byrne's solo career has been broad and multi-disciplinary. Since the 1990s, Byrne has exhibited his visual artwork at numerous galleries including Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York City. In 2006 he released Arboretum, a collection of his philosophical drawings, published by McSweeney's. Byrne's drawings are what he calls "mental maps of imaginary territory." Says Byrne, "if you can draw a relationship, it can exist... the world keeps opening up, unfolding, and just when we expect it to be closed—to be a sealed sensible box—it shows us something completely surprising." In 2010, Byrne exhibited his piece "Guitar Pedals...
Paper
$1,500
H 35.5 in W 29.75 in D 1.5 in
Artist Richard Anuszkiewicz Inward Eye #10 Op-Art Silkscreen Print, 1970, Signed
By Richard Anuszkiewicz
Located in St. Louis, MO
Richard Anuszkiewicz (1930-2020) Inward Eye #10 from the Inward Eye Series, 1970. Pronounced it ah-noo-SHKEV-ich. Silkscreen 25 19/20 × 19 3/4 inches Edition of 100, #56/100. Acid f...
Metal
$850
H 30 in W 36 in D 0.07 in
"3 Li Sustaining, " Limited Edition Print by Renée Rey from a Series of Four
Located in New York, NY
"3 Li Sustaining," is a white, gold, purple and gray archival Fine Art print in a limited edition of 75 by Renée Rey. Each signed Archival Pigment numbered work is printed on hot pre...
Paper
Peter Gee Pop Art Silkscreen
By Peter Gee
Located in New York, NY
Pop Art screen-print on silver metallic board featuring graphic magenta, blue, orange bullseye targets. Signed Peter Gee 1967. Professionally framed in a white wood frame with glare ...
Paint, Paper
$850
H 36 in W 36 in D 0.19 in
"1 H Sustaining, " Limited Edition Print by Renée Rey from a Series of Four
Located in New York, NY
"1 H Sustaining," is an orange, white and gray archival Fine Art print in a limited edition of 75 by Renée Rey. Each signed Archival Pigment numbered work is printed on hot press rag...
Paper
KAWS Brooklyn Museum Poster 2021, 'KAWS Tide'
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
KAWS 'TIDE' poster 2021 This classic KAWS poster features the artists signature Companion figure floating in a moonlit ocean and was published on the occasion of the much heralded 2021 KAWS: What Party exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. This large sized standout piece sold out immediately upon its release. Offset lithograph. Dimensions: 45 x 48 Inches. From a sold out / out of print edition of unknown. Unsigned. New, in very good to excellent overall condition. Sold unframed. About KAWS: “KAWS” is a graffiti artist, illustrator, painter, sculptor, product designer and toymaker. His cartoonish style, including his best-known characters with X-ed out eyes has its roots in his early career as a street artist, when he began replacing advertisements with his own, masterful acrylic paintings in the early, 1990s. Since, Kaws has embraced the commercialist spirit of Claes Oldenburg and Takashi Murakami, designing everything from Kanye West album covers to NIKE sneakers...
Paper
KAWS 'Score Years' Poster 'Brooklyn Museum 2021'
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
KAWS 'Score Years' poster 2021: This vibrant KAWS poster features the artists signature abstract motifs and was published on the occasion of the much heralded 2021 KAWS: What Party ...
Paper
KAWS TIDE Poster 'Brooklyn Museum 2021'
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
KAWS 'TIDE' poster 2021 This classic KAWS poster features the artists signature Companion figure floating in a moonlit ocean and was published on the occasion of the much heralded 2021 KAWS: What Party exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum...
Paper
KAWS Cover Art, 2009
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
KAWS cover art 2009: After previously working on the covers of ID magazine and complex, Kaws did the cover art for New York Magazine’s “Best Of New York 2009” issue. Approximately measures: 9 x 12 inches, minor signs of handling; otherwise very good condition, full issue, well-intact. Well-suited for framing. New York Magazine press-release, 2009: "This year, we invited a handful of designers to submit ideas for our “Best of New York” cover. They included Brooklyn-based street artist Kaws, book-jacket designer Evan Gaffney and magazine and book designer Tom Brown...
Paper
KAWS Cover Art, 2009
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
KAWS cover art 2009: After previously working on the covers of ID magazine and complex, Kaws did the cover art for New York Magazine’s “Best Of New York 200...
Paper
Kaws Cover Art, 2009
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
After previously working on the covers of ID magazine and complex, Kaws did the cover art for New York Magazine’s “Best Of New York 2009” issue. Approxima...
Paper
Kaws Limited Edition Cashmere Blanket by House of Voltaire
By KAWS
Located in Stamford, CT
This 100% superfine cashmere blanket by KAWS by House of Voltaire. There was a limited edition of 85 made with blue water, 85 made with red water. Produced by master Scottish cra...
Fabric
Kaws Cover Art 'New York Magazine, 2009
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
KAWS Cover Art 2009: After previously working on the covers of ID magazine and complex, Kaws did the cover art for New York Magazine’s “Best Of New ...
Paper
Kaws Cover Art 'New York Magazine, 2009
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
KAWS Cover Art 2009: After previously working on the covers of ID magazine and complex, Kaws did the cover art for New York Magazine’s “Best Of New ...
Paper
Sold
H 35 in W 23 in D 0.1 in
KAWS ‘Brian Donnelly’ Limited Edition Signed Screenprint Blame Game Series, 2014
By KAWS
Located in Studio City, CA
A riveting work by world-renowned contemporary artist and New York-based sensation KAWS (Brian Donnelly). Art critics have universally and consistently ...
Paper
Kaws Cover Art 'New York Magazine, 2009
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
KAWS Cover Art 2009: After previously working on the covers of ID magazine and complex, Kaws did the cover art for New York Magazine’s “Best Of New York 2009” issue. Approximatel...
Paper
Kaws Cover Art New York Magazine, 2009
By KAWS
Located in Brooklyn, NY
After previously working on the covers of ID magazine and complex, Kaws did the cover art for New York Magazine’s “Best Of New York 2009” issue. A...
Paper