COMPANION
Medium: Bronze
Year: 2001
Dimensions: 20x10x5 cm (7-7/8 x 3-7/8 x 1-7/8 inches)
Edition: 5
Signed, dated and numbered on the underside
Rendered in a miniature scale and executed in 2001, the present lot is one of the first versions of the artist’s trademark COMPANION figures to be made in bronze after the release of the COMPANION vinyl toy in 1999 that was created in collaboration with Japan’s Bounty Hunter. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1996, KAWS made a trip to Japan where he stumbled across streetwear contemporaries such as Nigo, Stash and Hiroshi Fujiwara, and began to look to vinyl toys as a source of inspiration. Featuring the signature ‘X-eyes’, the ears and head of a skull and positioning the figure in a squat, KAWS still manages to convey toy-like plushness in his work despite its medium. As he explained, speaking of his artistic practice of blurring the line between toys and sculptures, “to me they involve the same thought process, so it’s funny that when I work big in bronze, it’s called a sculpture, but something I do that’s small and plastic is called a toy” (KAWS, quoted in Carlo McCormick, “From the Streets to TV to Fine Art Galleries, KAWS Is Everywhere’, Paper, 4 November 2013, online.) A bold statement to the classical medium of sculpture, COMPANION confronts the viewer with a character that is arguably the most recognisable yet is imbued with a sense of the uncanny through the skull motif. At once saccharine and peculiar, KAWS challenges cultural boundaries, tapping into the nostalgia of universally cherished cartoon characters and injecting them with emotional undertones. A rare and early work among the artist’s body of sculptural works, and from an edition of only five, COMPANION comprises the ultimate ‘prototype’ which has since attracted a cult of avid collectors that have followed KAWS from the streets into the major galleries and museum exhibitions worldwide.
Auction Results
COMPANION, 2001
Phillips Hong-Kong: 25 May 2019
Estimated: HKD 500,000 – 700,000
HKD 1,187,500 / USD 152,170
KAWS 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale
KAWS
COMPANION, 2001
Bronze
Signed, dated and numbered ‘KAWS..01 2/5’ on the underside
This work is number 2 from an edition of 5