KAWSKAWS One (early KAWS artist book)2001
2001
About the Item
- Creator:KAWS (American)
- Creation Year:2001
- Dimensions:Height: 8.4 in (21.34 cm)Width: 6.3 in (16.01 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:NEW YORK, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU35438247882
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 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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- Raymond Pettibon Up The Threshold 1992 (Raymond Pettibon zine)By Raymond PettibonLocated in NEW YORK, NYRaymond Pettibon Up The Threshold 1992 (Raymond Pettibon zine): This visually enticing 1992 Raymond Pettibon artist book/zine includes 20+ evocative draw...Category
1990s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsPaper, Offset
- Raymond Pettibon Short Teats, Bloody Milk 1985 (Raymond Pettibon zine)By Raymond PettibonLocated in NEW YORK, NYRaymond Pettibon Short Teats Bloody Milk 1985 (Raymond Pettibon zine): This visually enticing 1985 Raymond Pettibon artist book/zine titled, Short Teats,...Category
1980s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsOffset, Paper
- Keith Haring Milan c.1989 (vintage Keith Haring)By (after) Keith HaringLocated in NEW YORK, NYKeith Haring Milan c.1989 Rare vintage Milan exhibition announcement circa late 1980’s featuring offset printed artwork by Keith Haring. Uniquely rendered on cardboard like material....Category
1980s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsPaper, Lithograph, Offset
- Basquiat Enrico Navarra Gallery 2000 (vintage Basquiat announcement)By after Jean-Michel BasquiatLocated in NEW YORK, NYJean-Michel Basquiat Enrico Navarra Gallery Paris 1999-2000: A set of 2 rare vintage Basquiat announcement cards published on the occasion(s) of: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gallery Enri...Category
1980s Pop Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsPaper, Lithograph, Offset
- 1960s Tom Wesselmann announcement (Wesselmann Paris 1966)By Tom WesselmannLocated in NEW YORK, NYTom Wesselmann, Paris 1966: Original 1960s announcement card published on the occasion of: Tom Wesselmann at Ileana Sonnabend, November 3rd, 1966 Paris. A rare 1960s Pop Art gem in good condition. Offset printed gallery announcement card; 4.5 x 9 inches. Some spotting & minor age related wear; in otherwise good overall condition. Unsigned from an edition of unknown. RARE. Tom Wesselmann is considered one of the central figures of 60s New York Pop Art...Category
1960s Pop Art Prints and Multiples
MaterialsPaper, Offset
- Jean Michel Basquiat en el Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Exhibition CatalogBy Jean-Michel BasquiatLocated in NEW YORK, NYJean-Michel Basquiat, Works on Paper: rare vintage catalog to the 1997 exhibit at the Museu Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Illustrat...Category
1990s Pop Art More Art
MaterialsOffset, Paper
- TAKASHI MURAKAMI: KYOTO: KŌRIN Japanese Pop Art Traditional Flowers SkullsBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in Madrid, MadridTakashi Murakami - KYOTO: KŌRIN Date of creation: 2020 Medium: Offset lithograph with cold stamp and high gloss varnish on paper Edition: 300 Size: 72 × 76,25 cm Condition: In mint c...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Varnish, Offset, Screen
- TAKASHI MURAKAMI: Who's afraid of red, yellow... Superflat, Japanese Pop ArtBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in Madrid, MadridTakashi Murakami - WHO'S AFRAID OF RED, YELLOW, BLUE AND DEATH Date of creation: 2011 Medium: Offset lithograph with silver and silkscreen with spot UV varnishing Edition: 300 Size:...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Varnish, Offset, Screen
- TAKASHI MURAKAMI: KANSEI: KORIN RED STREAM Japanese Pop flowers red blackBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in Madrid, MadridTakashi Murakami - KANSEI: KORIN RED STREAM Date of creation: 2010 Medium: Offset lithograph with cold stamp and high gloss varnishing on paper Edition number: 39/300 Size: 71 cm Ø C...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Varnish, Lithograph, Offset
- TAKASHI MURAKAMI: PANDA FAMILY AND ME Pop Art Japanese Skulls Flowers ColorsBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in Madrid, MadridTakashi Murakami - PANDA FAMILY AND ME Date of creation: 2013 Medium: Offset lithograph with silver on paper Edition: 300 Size: 50 x 50 cm Observations: Offset lithograph with silver...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Varnish, Lithograph, Offset
- TAKASHI MURAKAMI - FLOWER BALL - BURNING BLOOD Pop Art. Flowers Red SmileyBy Takashi MurakamiLocated in Madrid, MadridFLOWER BALL - BURNING BLOOD Date of creation: 2018 Medium: Offset lithograph with silver and high gloss varnishing on paper Edition number: 30/300 Size: 71 cm Ø Condition: In mint co...Category
2010s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsSilver
- Liz F&S II.7By Andy WarholLocated in New York, NY1964 Offset lithograph in colors, on wove paper Sheet: 23 1/8 x 23 1/8 in. Edition of 300 Signed and dated in ballpoint pen, lower right Unframed, pristine conditionCategory
1960s Pop Art Figurative Prints
MaterialsOffset, Paper, Lithograph
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.