Released in 1999, the original Companion produced with Bounty Hunter marks the foundational moment of KAWS’ sculptural practice. It is here that Brian Donnelly translates his two-dimensional visual language—developed through interventions on advertising and billboards—into a fully realized three-dimensional form.
Often cited alongside early collaborations with realMad HECTIC, this figure does not simply introduce a character; it establishes a system. With Companion, KAWS defines a visual vocabulary that will structure his entire practice for decades to come.
Introduction
The figure stands upright in a relaxed, slightly slouched posture, its stance both casual and deliberate. It wears simplified shorts and gloves, referencing familiar cartoon archetypes, yet stripped of narrative context. The head is the defining element: a skull-like structure with rounded crossbones extending laterally, replacing ears. The eyes—rendered as X-marks—immediately signal KAWS’ intervention, transforming a language of animation into something more ambiguous and detached.
The body is compact, with rounded volumes and clean transitions between forms. There is no excess detail. Every element serves clarity. Across the three colorways—Brown, Grey, and Black—the figure retains identical structure, with color acting as the sole variable. The black version introduces stronger graphic contrast, particularly through the yellow X-eyes, while the brown and grey versions soften the figure’s presence, emphasizing its sculptural qualities.
Executed in painted cast vinyl, the figure reflects the influence of Japanese toy production at the end of the 1990s, where precision, finish, and material quality were central. Each colorway was produced in a strictly limited edition of 500, a relatively small number that contributed to the immediate scarcity of the work. At approximately eight inches in height, the figure occupies a scale that is intimate yet assertive, bridging object, collectible, and sculpture.
The collaboration with Bounty Hunter situates the work within Tokyo’s street culture ecosystem, where fashion, music, and collectible design intersected with unusual intensity at the time.
The release of Companion coincides with a pivotal moment in global visual culture. Late-1990s Tokyo was a central node for streetwear and collectible design, with brands like Bounty Hunter shaping a new aesthetic language that blurred boundaries between subculture and commerce.
KAWS enters this context with precision. Rather than adapting to it, he contributes a form that is immediately legible yet fundamentally distinct.
Priced at approximately $100 at release, the figure was accessible, but not casual. It sold out quickly, signaling both demand and the emergence of a new type of object—one that could operate simultaneously within street culture, design, and contemporary art.
Companion functions less as a character than as a structure. It draws from the visual grammar of cartoons, gloves, shorts, simplified anatomy, but removes narrative, expression, and context. What remains is a figure defined by presence rather than action. The skull head introduces a subtle rupture. It replaces familiarity with ambiguity, transforming a seemingly approachable form into something more distant, almost neutral.
This tension, between accessibility and detachment, becomes central to KAWS’ work. The figure is recognizable, but not readable. It invites projection without offering resolution.
Today, the 1999 Bounty Hunter Companion is widely regarded as one of the most important editioned works in KAWS’ oeuvre. It is the origin point of a lineage that now spans sculptures, paintings, monumental installations, and global collaborations. Original examples, particularly those in strong condition with packaging, command significant attention on the secondary market, reflecting both their rarity and historical importance.
More than a collectible, the figure operates as a statement of intent. A toy that behaves like sculpture. A sculpture that understands culture.
BOUNTY HUNTERS COMPANIONS, 1999
BOUNTY HUNTER COMPANIONS (Brown/Grey/Black)
The complete set of three works
Medium: Painted cast vinyl
Year: 1999
Dimensions: 20x6x11 cm (8 x 2-3/8 x 4-3/8 inches)
Edition: 500, unnumbered
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Tokyo
Trademark KAWS 99 © on the underside
Auction Results
Bonhams online: 25 February 2026
Estimated: USD 1,000 – 2,000
USD 704
KAWS (born 1974)
Bounty Hunter Companion (Gray, Brown), 1999
Two cast vinyl figurines in colors
From the editions of 500
Gray signed in black ink and dated ’00’
Each with the artist’s copyright stamp and stamp dated on the underside
SBI Art Auction: 3 October 2020
Estimated: JPY 150,000 – 250,000
JPY 609,500 / USD 5,785
KAWS
KAWS 1st COMPANION × REALMAD HECTIC × Bounty Hunter (Gray, Brown, Black), 1999
Vinyl, multiple, with original case, 3 works
Ravenel Taipei: 2 December 2018
Estimated: TWD 220,000 – 320,000
TWD 480,000 / USD 15,570
KAWS (Brian Donnelly, American, 1974)
Companion × Bounty Hunter (Brown, Grey, Black) (a set of 3) & book, 1999; 2001
Painted cast vinyl, edition of 500
Trademark KAWS 99 © on the bottom of right foot
Signed on the bottom of right foot KAWS”00 (Brown)
Signed on the first page of the book KAWS ” 2001
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 8 June 2018
Estimated: HKD 28,000 – 38,000
HKD 287,500 / USD 36,645
AUCTION RECORD FOR BOUNTY HUNTERS COMPANIONS SET
KAWS (Brian Donnelly, American, 1974)
Companion × Bounty Hunter (Brown, Grey, Black) (set of 3), 1999
Painted cast vinyl, edition of 500
Signed on the underside
BOUNTY HUNTER (Black), 1999
BOUNTY HUNTER COMPANION (Black)
Medium: Painted cast vinyl
Year: 1999
Dimensions: 20x6x11 cm (8 x 2-3/8 x 4-3/8 inches)
Edition: 500, unnumbered
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Tokyo
Trademark KAWS 99 © on the underside
Auction Results
Heritage Auctions: 5 March 2025
USD 1,093.75
KAWS (b. 1974)
Bounty Hunter Companion, 1999
Painted cast vinyl
Stamped on underside of feet
Heritage Auctions: 7 February 2024
USD 2,250
KAWS (b. 1974)
Companion (Black), 1999
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 500
Stamped on underside of feet
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Japan
Heritage Auctions: 7 November 2018
Estimated: USD 1,000 – 1,500
USD 5,500
AUCTION RECORD FOR BOUNTY HUNTER COMPANION (BLACK)
KAWS (b. 1974)
Companion (Black), 1999
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 500
Stamped on underside of feet
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Japan
BOUNTY HUNTER (Brown), 1999
BOUNTY HUNTER COMPANION (Brown)
Medium: Painted cast vinyl
Year: 1999
Dimensions: 20x6x11 cm (8 x 2-3/8 x 4-3/8 inches)
Edition: 500, unnumbered
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Tokyo
Trademark KAWS 99 © on the underside
Auction Results
Heritage Auctions: 7 February 2024
USD 1,500
KAWS (b. 1974)
Companion (Brown), 1999
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 500
Stamped on underside of feet
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Japan
Heritage Auctions: 7 November 2018
Estimated: USD 1,000 – 1,500
USD 7,500
AUCTION RECORD FOR BOUNTY HUNTER COMPANION (BROWN)
KAWS (b. 1974)
Companion (Brown), 1999
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 500
Stamped on the underside of the feet ‘Made in China’ and ‘KAWS..99©’
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Japan
BOUNTY HUNTER (Grey), 1999
BOUNTY HUNTER COMPANION (Grey)
Medium: Painted cast vinyl
Year: 1999
Dimensions: 20x6x11 cm (8 x 2-3/8 x 4-3/8 inches)
Edition: 500, unnumbered
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Tokyo
Trademark KAWS 99 © on the underside
Auction Results
Heritage Auctions: 7 February 2024
USD 2,125
KAWS (b. 1974)
Companion (Grey), 1999
Painted cast vinyl
Artist’s Proof
Signed and numbered in ink on underside of right foot
Stamped on underside of feet
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Japan
Heritage Auctions: 3 March 2021
USD 2,125
KAWS (b. 1974)
Companion (Grey), 1999
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 500
Stamped to the underside of the feet
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Japan
Heritage Auctions: 21 January 2020
Estimated: USD 800 – 1,200
USD 5,625
AUCTION RECORD FOR BOUNTY HUNTER COMPANION (GREY)
KAWS (b. 1974)
Companion (Grey), 1999
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 500
Stamped to the underside of the feet
Produced by Bounty Hunter, Japan