KAWS

KAWS (American, b. 1974)

Sold as a set of 2.

Accompanied by certificate of authenticity.

From a sold-out edition of an unknown size.

The KAWS Along The Way figurine is a rendition of the artist's 2013 18-foot wood sculpture originally exhibited at Mary Boone Gallery NY. Along The Way presents a unique pose for KAWS’ signature Companion characters. KAWS’ design features two of his iconic companions leaning on each other for emotional support, hands heavy and eyes cast downward. Two years later, KAWS supersized the composition, installing an 18-foot-tall wooden version of Along The Way in the lobby of the Brooklyn Museum, which the museum also acquired for its permanent collection. Large-scale versions of Along The Way have also been exhibited at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Yorkshire Sculpture Park in England, the Yuz Museum in Shanghai and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas.

KAWS is an American graffiti artist and designer known for his toys, paintings and prints. Born Brian Donnelly on November 4, 1974 in Jersey City, NJ, KAWS graduated with a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and went on to work in animation. “When your whole art is based on the lettering you choose, you kinda figure out what ones work together. I just liked the shapes of the k, a, w, s,” he explained of his moniker. Having started as a graffiti artist in New York in the early 1990s, KAWS began reworking advertisements in his distinctive style. Pop Art and culture permeate his cartoonish Companion series of figurines, which bear a resemblance to the works of Takashi Murakami. The artist is also known for his large-scale public installations, such as 2019’s KAWS: Holiday which was installed in the Hong Kong harbor during Basel Hong Kong. In 2019, THE KAWS ALBUM (2005) sold at auction for a record $14.8 million, breaking his previous record of $2.7 million which was set in 2018. This work is a take on the Beatles' famous 1967 album cover for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but instead replaced with characters from The Simpsons with the artist's signature Xs drawn across their eyes and skulls. After years in the industry, KAWS gained approval from his peers in the street art world and, more recently, prestige from the museum and gallery worlds. His work today can be found in the collections at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Rosenblum Collection in Paris. KAWS currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.