With Small Lie, KAWS introduces one of the most emotionally charged figures within his sculptural vocabulary. Released in 2017 in a series of vinyl editions—most notably in brown, grey, and black—the work departs from the relative neutrality of Companion and BFF, offering instead a posture of unmistakable vulnerability.
Introduction
The figure is immediately defined by its slumped stance. Head bowed, shoulders rounded forward, arms hanging loosely at its sides, Small Lie appears withdrawn, almost defeated. The elongated nose—an explicit reference to Pinocchio—introduces a narrative dimension absent from many of KAWS’ other figures. It signals deception, but more importantly, the consequence of it.
The body retains the familiar elements of KAWS’ visual language: the gloved hands marked with crosses, the rounded shoes, and the simplified anatomy rooted in cartoon aesthetics. Yet here, these elements feel weighed down. The proportions seem heavier, the stance less stable, as if the figure were collapsing inward under its own psychological burden.
The three primary colorways—brown, grey, and black—each reinforce a different emotional register within the same sculptural form. The brown version carries a certain warmth, echoing vintage cartoon characters and early animation references. This familiarity creates a subtle tension with the figure’s dejected posture, as if innocence itself were compromised. The grey version is more neutral, almost desaturated emotionally. It emphasizes the sculptural qualities of the figure, allowing the posture and gesture to take precedence over any narrative association with color. The black version is the most severe. With its darker tonality and, in some cases, contrasting eye details, it amplifies the sense of introspection and finality. The figure becomes less a character and more an embodiment of mood—condensed, silent, and self-contained.
Small Lie was originally conceived as a monumental sculpture installed in various public and institutional contexts, including a notable presentation at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in the UK. The transition into vinyl editions follows a familiar strategy in KAWS’ practice: translating large-scale, site-specific works into collectible formats without losing their conceptual weight. Produced in collaboration with Medicom Toy, the 2017 editions were released in limited quantities and quickly absorbed by both collectors and the broader design market. As with many of KAWS’ works, the boundary between fine art sculpture and collectible object remains deliberately blurred.
The title Small Lie introduces a layer of ambiguity that is central to the work. It suggests something minor, almost trivial—yet the figure’s posture implies a disproportionate emotional response. This tension between scale and impact is where the work operates most effectively.
The reference to Pinocchio is key, but KAWS avoids narrative specificity. This is not a story about lying; it is a meditation on guilt, self-awareness, and the quiet weight of internal conflict. The crossed-out eyes remove the possibility of direct engagement, turning the figure inward. It does not seek forgiveness or interaction—it simply exists within its own state.
The elongated nose of Pinocchio is not a playful reference—it is the structural core of Small Lie. KAWS takes one of the most universally understood moral symbols—the growing nose as a marker of deception—and strips it of its narrative context, leaving only its psychological residue.
In traditional readings, Pinocchio’s nose is almost comedic, a visible consequence tied to a moral lesson. In Small Lie, that mechanism is internalized. The figure does not react outwardly; it collapses inward. The slumped posture, the lowered head, the passive hands—all suggest not the act of lying, but the aftermath of it. This is no longer about being caught; it is about knowing.
What makes the work particularly effective is the disproportion embedded in the title. A “small lie” should not carry such weight—yet here it does. KAWS isolates that quiet moment where something minor expands internally, where guilt is not measured by the scale of the act but by the awareness of it. The nose becomes less a symbol of deception than a marker of self-consciousness. In that sense, Small Lie is one of KAWS’ most psychologically precise figures. It does not tell a story. It holds a state.
SMALL LIE COMPANIONS, 2017
Small Lie Companion (Brown/Grey/Black)
Year: 2017
Dimensions: 27x13x13 cm (10-3/4 x 5 x 5-1/4 inches)
Edition: Limited of Unknown size, unnumbered
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Stamped signature, title, date and manufacturer’s mark to the underside
‘KAWS..17 Small Lie Medicom Toy China’
Auction Results
Heritage Auctions: 4 February 2026
USD 875
KAWS (b. 1974)
Small Lie (Three Works), 2017
Painted cast vinyl
Stamped on underside of feet
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Small Lie Companion (Grey)
Small Lie Companion (Grey)
Year: 2017
Dimensions: 27x13x13 cm (10-3/4 x 5 x 5-1/4 inches)
Edition: Limited of Unknown size, unnumbered
Produced by Medicom Toy, Tokyo
Stamped signature, title, date and manufacturer’s mark to the underside
‘KAWS..17 Small Lie Medicom Toy China’
Auction Results
LA Modern: 22 October 2025
Estimated: USD 400 – 600
USD 445
KAWS (Brian Donnelly, b.1974)
Small Lie Companion (Gray), 2017
painted cast vinyl
10¾ h × 5 w × 5¼ d in (27 × 13 × 13 cm)
SMALL LIE (MONUMENTAL)
Small Lie
Medium: Afrormosia wood
Year: 2013
Dimensions: 91x33x40 inches (231x84x102 cm)
Edition: 3
Towering over the viewer at eight feet tall, KAWS’s monumental wooden sculpture Small Lie isa defining example of the artist’s signature series of COMPANION sculptures. KAWS’s COMPANIONS rank amongst the most emblematic figures within the American artist’s pervasive visual lexicon. In recent years, Brooklyn-based Brian Donnelly – known more widely by his moniker KAWS – has not only earned his position as one of the most acclaimed sculptors of our generation, but has also become firmly established as a universally recognized household name. In the present work, the warm grain of Afrormosia wood and rounded curves of the cartoonish silhouette are reminiscent of children’s toys, evoking a tactile memory of childhood.
THE PRESENT WORK INSTALLED IN KAWS: WHAT PARTY, THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM, FEBRUARY – SEPTEMBER 2021.
This nostalgic familiarity is disrupted by the sculpture’s colossal scale. It is principally through his large-scale sculptures which juxtapose qualities in materiality and imagery, that KAWS successfully traverses the realms of high art and mass culture, with his trademark COMPANION character at the very forefront of this campaign. Global icons of our time, the COMPANION figures are simultaneously endearing and sinister, playful and psychologically charged. Their universal appeal lies in KAWS’s attention grabbing aesthetic “that merges,” as writer Emily Gosling attests, “childhood nostalgia with the macabre… [to join] up the dots between street art, fine art and merch” (Emily Gosling, ‘No KAWS for concern’, It’s Nice That, 4 February 2016, online).
Auction Results
Small Lie, 2013
Sotheby’s New-York: 1 March 2024
Estimated: USD 600,000 – 800,000
USD 698,500
https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2024/contemporary-curated/small-lie
KAWS (b. 1974)
Small Lie, 2013
Afrormasia wood
91x33x40 inches (231.1 x 83.8 x 101.6 cm)
This work is number 3 from an edition of 3
Small Lie, 2013
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 5 April 2023
Estimated: HKD 6,000,000 – 8,000,000
HKD 6,985,000 / USD 889,820
KAWS (b. 1974)
Small Lie, 2013
Wood
96 x 44 1/2 x 41 inches (243.8 x 113 x 104.1 cm)
This work is from an edition of 3 plus 2 artist’s proofs