KAWS Blue BFF

KAWS| Medicom | MoMA | Vinyl | Japan | 2019 | 16” x 5” x 3.5” | $1,450

American artist and ex Disney illustrator, Brian Donnelly, known as KAWS, began his career adding his graffiti to fashion advertising on NYC bus shelters and phone booths in the 1990s. He has gone on to create paintings and sculpture along with collaborations with toy and apparel firms.

KAWS created his first vinyl toy in 1999: an eight-inch Companion whose round belly, noodly limbs, and white gloves immediately reminded viewers of the cartoons made famous by his former workplace. The limited-edition toy reflected KAWS’s desire to make his work more accessible to the public.

In 2016, KAWS debuted BFF at the Central Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand: a 26-foot tall, bright blue creature. Like KAWS’s signature Companion figures, BFF has crossed-out eyes, gloved hands, and oversized ears, but with a Sesame Street-like furry exterior. To mark the occasion KAWS released a plush version of the character which sold out quickly.

KAWS designed a vinyl blue BFF in collaboration with the MoMA design store in 2017. In the years since, the family of BFFs has only grown to include BFFs in black and pink, a blue seated BFF lamp, large-scale public sculptures, and a plush pink BFF clad in a Dior suit at Paris Fashion Week. This blue vinyl standing version was released through MoMA in 2019.