The Pushead Companion series (2005) marks one of the most radical and conceptually charged mutations of the Companion figure within KAWS’ practice. Created in collaboration with Pushead, the series introduces a visceral, organic language into KAWS’ otherwise controlled and graphic universe, merging pop-cultural clarity with the raw aesthetics of punk, metal, and underground illustration.
Introduction
While the silhouette of the Companion remains recognizable, its identity is fundamentally destabilized. The head is transformed into a corroded skull; the iconic “ears” multiply into clusters of bone-like forms; the surface becomes irregular, scarred, and almost diseased. The familiar “X” motif persists, but is absorbed into a far more complex anatomical structure. This is not a variation—it is a corruption. A deliberate contamination of the Companion’s clean, commercial identity by a darker, more physical visual language.
At the core of the work lies a universal symbol. As KAWS has noted in relation to his skull motif, its power comes from its immediate legibility across cultures. Here, that universality is pushed further—not presented as a symbol, but as a condition. The Companion is no longer hiding an interior; it has become one.
Pushead Companion (Silver): The Artifact
The silver version presents the figure as an object of distance—cold, metallic, almost archaeological. Its reflective surface neutralizes the violence of the form, transforming decay into something preserved, even aestheticized.
It reads like a relic: cast, frozen, removed from time. The skull becomes emblematic rather than visceral, aligning the work with industrial production and sculptural permanence.
Pushead Companion (Bronze): The Organism
The bronze-toned version shifts the work into a radically different register. The surface absorbs light, emphasizing pits, scars, and organic irregularities. Small pale nodules punctuate the form, suggesting growth, infection, or mutation.
Here, the Companion feels less like an object and more like a body. The skull is no longer symbolic—it is physical, almost uncomfortable in its presence. The work moves from artifact to organism.
Pushead Companion (Black): The Absorption
The black colorway reduces the figure to mass and silhouette. Details remain, but they recede into a dense, matte surface that absorbs light rather than reflecting it.
This version is the most minimal, yet also the most severe. The anatomical complexity collapses into a single presence—heavy, opaque, and unresolved. It is less descriptive, more existential.
Pushead Companion (Glow in the Dark): The Specter
The glow-in-the-dark version introduces a temporal dimension. In daylight, the figure appears pale, almost inert; in darkness, it activates, emitting a spectral luminosity.
This transformation is conceptually precise. The skull—already associated with death—becomes literally animated in the absence of light. The work oscillates between visibility and invisibility, presence and afterimage. It is no longer just a figure, but a phenomenon.
Pushead Companion (Green): The Corrosion
The green version evokes oxidation, toxicity, and chemical transformation. Its surface suggests something altered over time, weathered, contaminated, unstable.
Unlike the bronze version, which feels organic, the green reads as reactive. It introduces a sense of environmental or chemical decay, reinforcing the idea that the Companion is not fixed, but subject to external forces.
The Pushead Companion series occupies a singular position within KAWS’ oeuvre. It represents an early and decisive moment where the artist allows his most iconic figure to be overtaken by another visual system—one that resists polish, embraces imperfection, and foregrounds materiality. Long before later works such as Resting Place, this series introduces the idea that the Companion can be opened, altered, and even destabilized without losing its identity. It is not simply a collaboration. It is a collision.
Behind the moniker Pushead stands Brian Schroeder, an American artist whose work has become synonymous with the visual language of punk, hardcore, and heavy metal culture. Emerging in the early 1980s, he developed a highly distinctive style rooted in obsessive detail, anatomical distortion, and an almost pathological fascination with skulls, decay, and transformation.
What distinguishes Pushead is not simply the use of skulls, but the way he treats them. His skulls are never clean symbols; they are layered, decomposed, mutated—often composed of multiple skulls merging into one another. Surfaces appear infected, porous, alive with micro-detail. There is a paradox at the heart of his work: extreme precision used to depict instability. Every line is controlled, yet the forms feel as though they are dissolving or proliferating uncontrollably. This tension—between control and chaos—defines his aesthetic. Beyond music, Pushead became a central figure in skate culture through his work with brands such as Zorlac. His graphics, printed on skate decks and widely circulated, transformed utilitarian objects into carriers of a dense, subcultural visual code.
In this context, his work functioned much like early street art—mobile, reproducible, and embedded within everyday environments. Pushead’s imagery operates on a primal level. The skull, as he deploys it, is not merely a symbol of death—it is a structure, a system, a form that can be endlessly recombined. Like KAWS, he understands the power of universally recognizable imagery—but where KAWS simplifies and refines, Pushead complicates and overloads. His influence extends far beyond the scenes in which he originated. The fusion of high-detail illustration with mass dissemination anticipated many of the strategies later adopted by contemporary artists navigating between subculture and global visibility.
Pushead Companion (Silver), 2005
Pushead Companion (Silver)
Medium: Painted cast vinyl
Year: 2005
Dimensions: 27x14x8 cm (10-1/2 x 5-1/2 x 3 inches)
Edition: 500, unnumbered
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Impressed signature, title, date and manufacturer’s mark to underside
‘©Pushead ©KAWS..05 Medicom Toy China’
Auction Results
LA Modern: 13 September 2024
Estimated: USD 1,000 – 2,000
USD 1,890
KAWS (Brian Donnelly, b.1974)
Pushead Companion (Silver), 2005
Painted cast vinyl
Impressed signature, title, date and manufacturer’s mark to underside
‘©Pushead ©KAWS..05 Medicom Toy China’
This work is from the edition of unknown size
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Sold with original packaging
Roseberys London: 5 July 2022
Estimated: GBP 600 – 800
GBP 650 / USD 775
KAWS (American b.1974-)
Companion (Pushead Version) (silver), 2005
Painted vinyl multiple
From the edition of 500
With artist’s name, date ad copyright printed to underside
Fabricated by Medicom Toy, China, and OriginalFake, Japan
With original card box packaging
Digard Paris: 4 October 2020
Estimated: EUR 800 – 1,000
EUR 2,860 / USD 3,350
KAWS (born 1974)
PUSHEAD COMPANION (Sliver), 2005
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 500
Stamped on the underside of the feet
With original packaging
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Pushead Companion (Green), 2005
Pushead Companion (Green)
Medium: Painted cast vinyl
Year: 2005
Dimensions: 27x14x8 cm (10-1/2 x 5-1/2 x 3 inches)
Edition: 500, unnumbered
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Impressed signature, title, date and manufacturer’s mark to underside
‘©Pushead ©KAWS..05 Medicom Toy China’
Auction Results
Heritage Auctions: 17 March 2026
USD 937.50
KAWS X Pushead
Companion (Green), 2005
Painted cast vinyl
Stamped on underside of feet
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Roseberys London: 5 July 2022
Estimated: GBP 600 – 800
GBP 650 / USD 775
KAWS (American b.1974-)
Companion (Pushead Version) (green), 2005
Painted vinyl multiple
From the edition of 500
With artist’s name, date ad copyright printed to underside
Fabricated by Medicom Toy, China, and OriginalFake, Japan
With original card box packaging
Pushead Companion (Bronze), 2005
Pushead Companion (Bronze)
Medium: Painted cast vinyl
Year: 2005
Dimensions: 27x14x8 cm (10-1/2 x 5-1/2 x 3 inches)
Edition: 500, unnumbered
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Impressed signature, title, date and manufacturer’s mark to underside
‘©Pushead ©KAWS..05 Medicom Toy China’
Auction Results
Heritage Auctions: 4 March 2026
USD 3,750
KAWS (b. 1974)
Companion (Bronze), 2005
Painted cast vinyl
Stamped on underside of feet
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Digard Paris: 4 October 2020
Estimated: EUR 1,000 – 1,200
EUR 5,200 / USD 6,090
KAWS (born 1974)
PUSHEAD COMPANION (Bronze), 2005
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 100
Stamped on the underside of the feet
With original packaging
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Pushead Companion (Glow in the Dark), 2005
Pushead Companion (Glow in the Dark)
Medium: Painted cast vinyl
Year: 2005
Dimensions: 27x14x8 cm (10-1/2 x 5-1/2 x 3 inches)
Edition: 500, unnumbered
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Impressed signature, title, date and manufacturer’s mark to underside
‘©Pushead ©KAWS..05 Medicom Toy China’
Auction Results
Clars Auction Gallery: 14 December 2020
Estimated: USD 600 – 900
USD 956
KAWS (American, b. 1974)
“Companion (Pushead Version),” circa 2005
Glow in the dark cast vinyl
Sculpted by Cosmo Liquid
Made by MEDICOM TOY
With original case
Tate Ward Auctions: 24 June 2020
Estimated: GBP 1,000 – 1,500
GBP 1,500 / USD 1,865
KAWS (American 1974-)
‘Pushead Companion (Glow In The Dark)’, 2005
Cast vinyl figure
Stamped with the Artist’s signature and publishers details on the underside of the figures feet
Published by Medicom Toy
Digard Paris: 4 October 2020
Estimated: EUR 800 – 1,000
EUR 1,950 / USD 2,285
KAWS (born 1974)
PUSHEAD COMPANION (Glow in the Dark), 2005
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 500
Stamped on the underside of the feet
With original packaging
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Pushead Companion (Black), 2005
Pushead Companion (Black)
Medium: Painted cast vinyl
Year: 2005
Dimensions: 27x14x8 cm (10-1/2 x 5-1/2 x 3 inches)
Edition: 500, unnumbered
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Impressed signature, title, date and manufacturer’s mark to underside
‘©Pushead ©KAWS..05 Medicom Toy China’
Auction Results
Bonhams Los Angeles: 19 January 2023
Estimated: USD 800 – 1,200
USD 956
KAWS (born 1974)
Companion (PUSHEAD version) (Black), 2005
Painted cast vinyl multiple
Stamped with the artist’s name, date and fabricator ‘MEDICOM TOY 05 CHINA’ on the underside
From the edition of 500
Fabricated by Medicom Toy, Japan
Contained in original box
Digard Paris: 4 October 2020
Estimated: EUR 800 – 1,000
EUR 2,210 / USD 2,590
KAWS (born 1974)
PUSHEAD COMPANION (Black), 2005
Painted cast vinyl
Edition of 500
Stamped on the underside of the feet
With original packaging
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo