Popular American artist, KAWS, pictured in front of some of his work.
The American artist Brian Donnelly is better known by the tag he chose as a teenager experimenting with street art: KAWS. In recent years, KAWS’ popularity has skyrocketed, with his ability to blend high and low culture proving irresistible to the art market, with some even comparing him to Andy Warhol.
Though KAWS began as a street artist in the 1990s, he has since expanded into other areas; he now creates sculptures, paintings, and prints, whilst also collaborating with well-known brands on commercial ventures to design clothes, toys, and other consumer goods. In the art market, he is best-known for his sculptures, but prints still account for a respectable 19% of his work sold at auction, where the majority fetch between £1,000 an £5,000, with a significant proportion attaining up to £50,000.
Below is a list of KAWS’ six most expensive prints sold at auction. If you own a KAWS print and want to know more about how much it might be worth, or how to sell it, get in touch with Mark Littler today.
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Blame Game
These 10 screenprints in colours date from 2014 and feature cropped, close-up sections of what appear to be unidentified cartoon characters’ faces. Each of the prints sports KAWS’ trademark crossed-out eyes, which are often thought to have stemmed from his early days as a graffiti artist, and which have been interpreted in numerous different ways by critics and fans.
This series was only printed as a limited edition of 100, making it both rare and highly desirable; indeed, Blame Game accounts for eight out of the artist’s 16 most expensive prints sold at auction, with this particular set achieving more than £30,000 above its top estimate when it was sold by Philips in May 2019 for £100,189.
Blame Game sold by Phillips in 2019
Untitled (Calvin Klein)
KAWS was born in New Jersey but studied art in New York City in the 1990s. After graduating, he worked as an animator during the day and began to make a name for himself as a graffiti artist by night. His street art often involved subverting billboards and other advertisements, frequently by inserting his own cast of cartoonlike characters in some way.
This print from 1999 does exactly that, depicting KAWS’ green X-eyed creation coiling itself like a snake around the model, Christy Turlington. By subverting this Calvin Klein ad, KAWS attempted to combine art and consumerism in a Pop Art-derived way, blurring the distinctions between high and low culture. The print is one of KAWS’ best-known and most sought after, and it was sold by Bonhams in October 2020 for £98,000.
Untitled (Calvin Klein) sold by Bonhams in 2020
No Reply
This series of 10 screenprints from 2015 was sold by Seoul Auction in October 2019 for £87,864. It shares many similarities with Blame Game, created the year before. The prints are so closely-cropped that they become nearly abstract at times, and, like many KAWS prints, they feature vivid colours and bold outlines. By this time in his career, KAWS had already worked with numerous famous names and brands, including Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Vans, John Mayer, Nike, and Comme des Garçons, though he had not yet embarked on his much-lauded collaboration with the clothing company, Uniqlo.
No Reply sold bu Seoul Auction in 2019
Ups And Downs
This set of 10 screenprints dates from 2013, and it shares its name with KAWS’ exhibition from the same year held at The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City. KAWS’ 17-foot tall touring sculpture, COMPANION (PASSING THROUGH) was installed in front of the museum for the exhibition. The sculpture shows KAWS’ recurring character, COMPANION, sitting hunched with his hands covering his eyes, and it was apparently inspired partly by Rodin’s famous bronze sculpture, The Thinker.
Like No Reply and Blame Game, Ups and Downs is made up of bright, closely-cropped images that have an abstract quality and prominently feature KAWS’ iconic ‘X’ symbol. Though they evade easy interpretation, the prints are fairly popular in today’s market, and this set was sold by Mainichi Auction in March 2021 for £85,631, more than £25,000 above its top estimate.
Ups And Downs sold by Mainichi Auction in 2021
The News
Unusually, these screenprints in colours are circular, though they also share similarities with KAWS’ other closely-cropped series, including an emphasis on bold colours and distinctive shapes, as well as the artist’s signature ‘X’ symbol. KAWS’ work is popular across the globe, and his work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He’s also sought-after in many auctions around the world; this set of prints was sold in Taiwan by Ravenel International Art Group in June 2019 for £85,316.
The News sold by Ravenel International Art Group in 2019
No One’s Home/Stay Steady/The Things That Comfort
As well as having a whole host of characters he’s made up himself, KAWS frequently appropriates iconic cartoon characters from popular culture, reworking them to fit his own purposes. These three prints from 2015 feature Snoopy, the beloved pet beagle of Charlie Brown from the Peanuts comic strip; KAWS once said, “I think Peanuts is part of being a kid in America”, and Snoopy has appeared in much of his work, including this set of colourful prints which were sold by New Auction in Tokyo in November 2021 for £75,175.
No One’s Home/Stay Steady/The Things That Comfort sold by New auction in 2021
