Companionship in the Age of Loneliness

Companionship in the Age of Loneliness

Gone / Companionship in the Age of Loneliness is a work by KAWS created in 2019, the year in which the Companion character had already become one of the most recognizable images in the artist's output. The work draws on the visual language KAWS developed from street culture, cartoons and toys, transforming it into a more intimate and reflective scene.

At the center of the composition is Companion, recognizable by its face with "X"-shaped eyes, holding another lifeless figure in its arms. The gesture immediately evokes an idea of loss, absence and vulnerability, themes that emerge with particular clarity in the very title of the work. The scene is reduced to its essentials, without any contextual elements, so that attention is focused entirely on the relationship between the two figures.

Unlike many of KAWS's works characterized by bright colors and a strong Pop impact, here the choice of black and white and the fine line work give the composition a more sober tone. The surface is built through a dense web of lines that describes the volumes of the figures and highlights their almost sculptural quality.

The work shows how KAWS uses characters drawn from mass culture imagery to address more complex emotional content. Companion, born in the late 1990s as a toy, takes on different meanings over time and becomes a means through which the artist explores themes such as loneliness, affection, fragility and relationships with others.

The work is also part of KAWS's path between high art and popular culture. After his beginnings in street art and subvertising, the artist has progressively transferred his visual vocabulary into paintings, prints, sculptures and monumental installations, always maintaining a strong link with the reproducibility of the image and with the languages of contemporary culture.

Gone / Companionship in the Age of Loneliness is a screenprint on 300 gsm Arches Aquarelle paper from 2019, measuring 38.1 x 30.5 cm and produced in a limited edition of 750 copies. The work is signed, numbered and dated by the artist.

If you are interested in KAWS's work, Gone / Companionship in the Age of Loneliness, and would like to know its price, click "SHOW PRICE" to receive it quickly by email.

Feel free to contact us for more information about the artist, the work and other works by KAWS for sale. Discover the selection of prints, multiples and graphic works available on our site and explore the production of one of the most recognizable contemporary artists linked to Pop and street culture.

KAWS, Companionship in the Age of Loneliness - 2020 - Limited edition AP 46 of 50 hand-signed in pencil 

Kaws: Biography

Kaws, artist and designer, is famous for his "toys", the iconic characters inspired by Pop world and mass culture. They are represented in his unmistakable sculptures, but also in paintings, installations and graphic works.

Known as KAWS, Brian Donnelly was born in 1974 in Jersey City and he approached the world of street art at a very young age, while attending St. Anthony High School. There he created the tag “KAWS”, which he painted on the roof of a nearby building so that he could see it outside while attending class in high school. As he declared, the word has no meaning and was chosen by the artist for aesthetic reasons, because of the way the letters looked next to each other.

After continuing his studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, he worked in the city as a freelance animator painting backgrounds for well-known animated series (like "101 Dalmatians: The Series"). At the same time, he began his career as a street artist in the New York of the 1990s. KAWS art was born "subvertising" billboards, bus shelters, and phone booths: he altered advertising and billboards with a provocative and parodistic style, featuring the first ideas of his future characters.

Kaws: Companion and the other figures

From the first street art works, KAWS's style evolved into the most iconic subject of the production of KAWS: Companion. This KAWS doll was created after visiting Japan in 1999 and being impressed by Bounty Hunter, a streetwear brand that also produced toys.

With his first work, KAWS toys achieved immediate success. The KAWS Companion (1999) was produced in a limited edition of 500 pieces, almost immediately sold out. From that moment on, Companion became his most recurrent and iconic character, but other KAWS figures were also created, some inspired by pre-existing characters from the world of Pop and mass culture such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Snoopy, Darth Vader, the Michelin Man and many others. Among the best known Accomplice, Chum, Bendy, BFF and Bearbrick.

And really notable is also The Kimpsons, a series inspired by The Simpsons that led to the artist's current auction record in 2019. In fact, the work by KAWS The Kaws Album sold at Sotheby's in Hong Kong for the equivalent of over €13 million (premium buyer included), marking the artist's record. The 2005 acrylic on canvas painting was a reinterpretation of the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, but with Simposon characters crowding the composition.

Touching on a wide variety of different techniques, the many figures invented by the artist range from toys/action figures to paintings, graphic works, installations and actual sculptures. Large-scale KAWS statues have been installed in urban space, and his larger works include an inflatable floating version of Companion over 35 metres long installed in 2019 at Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor.

Comparison with Warhol and Kaws' influences

KAWS has been compared to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, whose inimitable styles started out on the street to later find the interest of critics and gallery owners. A second comparison associates KAWS with artists such as Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons: this because of their deep connection to mass society and their instinctive understanding of the possibilities of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.

KAWS mentioned his influences as ranging from Claes Oldenburg and Tom Wesselman to Takashi Murakami. In particular, Murakami shares with KAWS the idea of art expanding into brand collaborations, projects and large-scale productions.

Brand collaborations

“KAWS navigates seamlessly between street culture, high art and the mass commercial market. His references to popular culture truly capture the essence of zeitgeists past and present, subverting cartoon heroes to reinforce the idea that he makes no distinction between concepts of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art.” - Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s Senior Director of European Head of Contemporary Art

In the early 2000s, KAWS successfully launched his fashion brand, Original Fake, but even more successful were his collaborations with brands and celebrities around the world.

Collaborations with cult streetwear brands include Bathing Ape and Supreme, but also Undercover, Burton, Vans and many more.

In 2008 he designed the cover of Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak album, and more recently he designed a version of Nike Air Jordans.

In 2019, for Paris Fashion Week, Dior designer Kim Jones debuted his Spring/Summer 2019 collection with a KAWS - Dior interpretation of the fashion house’s iconic bee design, set against the backdrop of a 10-metre tall pink flower sculpture of KAWS’s ‘BFF’ character.

And finally, the artist's most successful collaborations include Uniqlo x KAWS, which led to a capsule collection in 2019 to celebrate the Japanese brand's anniversary. Sold out in record time, the collection combined references to KAWS' iconic toys with characters from Sesame Street, an American television series from the 1970s.

KAWS: ARTWORKS FOR SALE WITH PRICES AND VALUE ON DEODATO ARTE

For those interested in where to buy KAWS, Deodato Arte offers a selection of works by the artist for sale online.

If you are interested in knowing about Kaws price, value or which works will be on display at the Deodato Arte Contemporary Art Gallery, do not hesitate to contact us by sending an e-mail to [email protected].

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