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Descriptif du lot
Towering two and a half metres in height, the present work belongs to KAWS’ ORIGINALFAKE or ‘FLAYED’ series of COMPANION sculptures. These works represent some of his most extraordinary variations on his signature character, his skin peeled back across one half of his body to reveal his anatomical make-up. Defined by his gloved hands, skull-and-crossbones head and X-d out eyes, COMPANION has become a beloved emblem of KAWS’ practice. Though inspired by the language of cartoons, his forlorn posture and curiously human qualities have come to symbolise the universal anxieties we all share, cutting across geographic and cultural boundaries. In 2012 an inflatable COMPANION participated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade; since 2018 he has toured the globe as part of the artist’s travelling installation HOLIDAY, floating in Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong and most recently sitting on the roof of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In the present work, KAWS strips away his external trappings, exposing the life force beneath the mask.
Born Brian Donnelly, KAWS began his career in animation, working on cartoons including 101 Dalmatians, Doug and Daria. During this period he also operated as a graffiti artist, removing posters and adverts from city walls and drawing over them at home before returning them the next day. Over the years he would accrue a cult following, moving seamlessly between urban culture, fashion and high art. COMPANION shot to fame as a sold-out limited edition vinyl toy in 1999, produced in collaboration with the Japanese clothing brand Bounty Hunter. In 2006 KAWS made his first FLAYED COMPANION as the figurehead for his Tokyo streetwear shop, OriginalFake. The two contrasting halves of the sculpture were intended to reflect the contradiction inherent in the store’s name, and the figure was exhibited inside a circular glass temple with a contrasting light and dark embossed backdrop. His presentation as an almost supernatural demi-god, argues Thomas Crow, invoked a range of references: from the yōkai demons of Japanese myth, to ancient Samurai rituals (T. Crow et al. (eds.), KAWS, London 2023, p. 83).
Straddling the boundaries between fine art and popular culture, the appropriative nature of KAWS’ practice has aligned him with artists including Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami. At the same time, however, his works tap into deeper existential themes. COMPANION—along with related characters including CHUM, ACCOMPLICE and BFF—ultimately transcend their cartoon origins. The skull-and-crossbones and X motifs, first developed during the artist’s graffiti days, lend his figures a tragicomic pathos. The dissected organs and muscles of the present work, meanwhile, imbue COMPANION with a sense of frailty and vulnerability: a reminder of the human spirit lurking beneath the sculptural façade. The results call to mind not only the anatomical visions of Jean-Michel Basquiat, but also the works of Damien Hirst, including his monumental Hymn (1999-2005) and Temple (2008) as well as his celebrated formaldehyde work Mother and Child Divided (1993). Here, in mesmerising sculptural detail, COMPANION confronts his own mortality.
Born Brian Donnelly, KAWS began his career in animation, working on cartoons including 101 Dalmatians, Doug and Daria. During this period he also operated as a graffiti artist, removing posters and adverts from city walls and drawing over them at home before returning them the next day. Over the years he would accrue a cult following, moving seamlessly between urban culture, fashion and high art. COMPANION shot to fame as a sold-out limited edition vinyl toy in 1999, produced in collaboration with the Japanese clothing brand Bounty Hunter. In 2006 KAWS made his first FLAYED COMPANION as the figurehead for his Tokyo streetwear shop, OriginalFake. The two contrasting halves of the sculpture were intended to reflect the contradiction inherent in the store’s name, and the figure was exhibited inside a circular glass temple with a contrasting light and dark embossed backdrop. His presentation as an almost supernatural demi-god, argues Thomas Crow, invoked a range of references: from the yōkai demons of Japanese myth, to ancient Samurai rituals (T. Crow et al. (eds.), KAWS, London 2023, p. 83).
Straddling the boundaries between fine art and popular culture, the appropriative nature of KAWS’ practice has aligned him with artists including Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami. At the same time, however, his works tap into deeper existential themes. COMPANION—along with related characters including CHUM, ACCOMPLICE and BFF—ultimately transcend their cartoon origins. The skull-and-crossbones and X motifs, first developed during the artist’s graffiti days, lend his figures a tragicomic pathos. The dissected organs and muscles of the present work, meanwhile, imbue COMPANION with a sense of frailty and vulnerability: a reminder of the human spirit lurking beneath the sculptural façade. The results call to mind not only the anatomical visions of Jean-Michel Basquiat, but also the works of Damien Hirst, including his monumental Hymn (1999-2005) and Temple (2008) as well as his celebrated formaldehyde work Mother and Child Divided (1993). Here, in mesmerising sculptural detail, COMPANION confronts his own mortality.