Apologies in advance for welcoming you back from your long weekend with another toy you can’t afford, but here goes anyway. KAWS has collaborated with Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama on a 13-inch, 6.6-pound metal sculpture with movable parts. The figure will be released in silver/chrome and black/chrome colorways with coordinated T-shirts also available. This is [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Felt Mistress has been on my radar since she collaborated with Jon Burgerman on three great plushes for his 2008 Because I Can’t Sit Still show. When I went digging around in her Flickr sets, I discovered that she also, in collaboration with illustrator Jonathan Edwards, sews up a series of plush kaiju. The [...]
Continue reading...Monday, April 6, 2009
The set of 5 Kaws 5YL Companion keychains is now on sale at Kawsone. It’s $60 for the mono grey, mono brown, black, GID green and GID blue figures. Unscrew the keychains and have yourself some Kaws mini figures to crowd in at your Kaws Kubricks bus stops. The figures are 2 inches tall each, [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The keychain that is. The always-reliable Instinctoy blog got their hands on a full spectrum set of those Kaws 5YL Companion Keychains. An initial survey of the QC on these was mixed, but enlarge these pics and decide for yourself. There may be stray paint on the monos, but the clear and GID keychains look [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, March 24, 2009
During yesterday’s segment, we profiled designer toy companies for our report on blind boxes. Today, it's all about the end users of blind boxes: the fans. Toy fans echo the diversity of the toys. We enjoy different aesthetics and buying styles. Some people care about edition size; some don't. Some fans like vinyl; some prefer resin. But all of us are a little crazy. We're in an economic recession, and we're buying toys. Let's look at what toy fans want and the possible ways of getting it.
Continue reading...Friday, March 20, 2009
Well, available now if you’re near an OriginalFake shop in Japan (~ $11USD) or Colette in France (~$27 USD). The five plastic keychains are based on Kaws 5YL Companions and come in a variety of monochromatic and clear colorways. Each keychain is 2 inches tall. At first glance (look at the shoes and gloves), QC [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Comments Off
With Obama in the White House, Shepard Fairey has turned his hopes and stencils to Lance Armstrong. Shepard is helping Lance with imagery to promote this summer’s “Stages” art show, which is a benefit for the LIVESTRONG foundation. KAWS, Barry McGee and Damien Hirst are supplying the transportation. From Supertouch: “Stages” brings together nearly 30 [...]
Continue reading...Friday, March 6, 2009
Comments Off
KAWS returns to the Phillips de Pury & Co auction in London next Saturday, March 14th with a handful of figures. First up, there’s three 2003 Chompers Be@rbricks. The largest of the plastic figures stands 28 inches. The set is estimated at £800-1,200 or ~$1,133-1,700 USD. If you consider the current price of KAWS 2009 [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, March 5, 2009
Comments Off
Well, the release of the KAWS Dissected Be@rbrick came and went with a predictable, yet impressive, line that stretched city blocks around Tokyo’s OriginalFake shop. If you are like the majority of people around the world, you did not get one, so join me in the vicarious pleasure of the 2D turnarounds courtesy of Instinctoy. [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Just in case you hadn’t heard from every hype blog on the face of the earth, KAWS did the cover of the current (best of) New York Magazine. This blown-up pic was culled from Kanye West’s blog. Kanye loves him some KAWS. (But he also loved Dustin Cantrell’s Plasma Dunnys, so we love him back.) [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, February 25, 2009
If you think that I’m milking this KAWS Dissected Be@rbrick story, raise one lego-like arm. Freshness has “confirmed and authenticated” that the above-pictured Be@rbrick is real and will release per the lottery method on February 28th. Meanwhile, consensus around the Internet seems to say that people preferred the PhotoShopped Dissected Be@rbricks. At this point, I’m [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Well, there you have it. Leaked pictures, Flickr appearances and speculation aside, the Asia and NYC-based culture mag, Freshness, have “confirmed from MEDICOM TOY CO. that this is not a real product.” Other hype sites have simply deleted their posts about the now-infamous KAWS Dissected Be@rbrick trio. The brown-dissected Be@rbrick is for sure a go [...]
Continue reading...Monday, February 23, 2009
Comments Off
The night before KAWS‘ much-anticipated show at HONOR FRASER, he surprised Culver City with “I Can’t Feel My Face,” a VIP party and art exhibition at Royal/T. Party-goers got to see some of KAWS’ sculptures and art, his hand-picked selections from over 25 other contemporary artists and an OriginalFake pop-up shop. On that last note, [...]
Continue reading...Friday, February 20, 2009
Here’s part of the “joke” I’m not in on: Why is it that I can easily by myself a KAWS ashtray and pillow at one of my favorite toy shops, but I have to stand in line (or get a mule) outside of Tokyo’s flagship Original Fake store to actually get this KAWS toy? A [...]
Continue reading...Friday, February 20, 2009
There is a lot going on this weekend, but if you’re anywhere on the bell curve between toy collector and art hipster and you live in the greater Los Angeles area, you are going to be at HONOR FRASER. Beginning tomorrow, Saturday, February 21st, the gallery will host KAWS‘ first west-coast solo exhibition, The Long [...]
Continue reading...Friday, January 23, 2009
Earlier this month, we picked up from KAWS’ blog that he’s going (ku)soft on us with his latest vinyl release, the Warm Regards Bar. Now, thanks to a tip from HypeBeast, here’s some info on where to get it. Along with an Ice Cream Bar chocolate brown t-shirt, the KAWS-designed Ice Cream Bar vinyl toy [...]
Continue reading...Monday, January 5, 2009
Proving that turd-themed toys can survive a recession the way cockroaches can withstand radiation, KAWS is preparing to drop some fresh piles on his fervent fanbase. Warm Regards was originally created as part of the Beautiful Losers exhibition in 2004 and has since been seen in other 2D manifestations. These vinyl toys are modelled after [...]
Continue reading...Friday, December 19, 2008
Comments Off
Le Merde did this custom Kaws 5 Years Later piece on commission. Always interesting to see the reworkings of this classic and coveted vinyl. From Le Merde’s blog.
Continue reading...Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Comments Off
This isn’t the first companion pillow/cushion by Kaws, but I think it’s the first dissected companion. The standard companion pillows sell for almost $200, so while these new ones are ridiculously cool, they’re not exactly recession-friendly. OriginalFake will release the dissected pillows in three colorways at their flagship store in Tokyo and select retailers this [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Comments Off
Sket One is serving up customs (for the first time) in his eBay shop, and for the right price, you could take home some exceptional pieces. Say you happen to have an extra $700, you’d be stoked to see two customized Kaws companions–one bloody and one clean. Sket did the one-of-a-kind pieces for the “You [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Comments Off
November 24th brings the anticipation of many things. Big roasted turkeys, mountains of mashed potatoes and many a belly ache. But it also brings the upcoming studio album by Kanye West. His fourth album is entitled 808s & Heartbreak. The album originally was going to drop on December 16th, but the record company has their [...]
Continue reading...Monday, November 10, 2008
Comments Off
These may be all gone, since Freshness reported the release over the weekend, but here’s to you trying to coordinate your Kaws vinyl JPP figure with a stylish Original Fake x Porter x Gallery 1950 messenger bag. The bags were released at several selected Original Fake retailers worldwide this weekend, including the Original Fake flagship [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, November 6, 2008
Here they are, in all their rumored $25K colorways. As Sunny blogged earlier today, Kaws opened a new solo show at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin and Nitrolicious has provided some great breaking visuals (check their post for more). This exhibition features the KAWS’ most recent paintings and sculpture. Large-scale acrylic works on canvas incorporate his usual [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, November 6, 2008
Comments Off
Didn’t Kaws just put on a solo show? The answer, if you recall, is a big old yes. His solo show ‘Saturated’ is currently at the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Miami, Florida. It opened in mid September and will run until November 15th. And before the paintings from that show can even be brought down, packed and shipped [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Comments Off
Hey, remember these? We’ve been talking about Kaws’ line of housewares with Gallery 1950 since July, but usually there’s nowhere to direct US readers who are flush with cash and lengthy ash to purchase them. Well ToyQube, based in Flushing, New York, just got the ashtrays in black and white ceramic finishes. Kaws’ wares are [...]
Continue reading...
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
3 Comments