Kaws is the professional name of an American artist and designer named Brian Donnely. He was born in 1974 in New Jersey and has attended the prestigious School of Visual Art. He initially began his work and started painting in 2D and later he switched to 3D. His work includes figurative characters and motifs of the cast of TV shows of the 90s. He creates some characters out of his head and others are an inspiration of some existing characters. His characters range from a few inches to 10metre tall. His work has been exhibited in various art galleries and museums across the world.Brian does create some limited-edition prints and other famous characters as well. But none steals the show as Kaws, which is why Brian Donnely himself is known by the name Kaws too. Why is kaws so expensive? let’s find out.
Why is it so expensive?
Many artists and big brands have appreciated the Kaws characters including Disney and Uniqlo. Now, coming to the prime question as to why the Kaws characters are so expensive is because the man who made this character is a big and established name in the market, people loved it so much and the characters even compelled the bigger brands to give a shoutout to this excellent creation by Brian. This act by the bigger brands can be considered as raising the value of the Kaws characters in the market. The Kaws characters came into demand and they remained in demand. The reason is that the more the demand for the product, the more expensive it gets.
Apart from this, if looked upon the reason behind the growing demand for the Kaws characters that makes it so expensive is the fact that original Kaws characters are hard to get in the market. The authentic Kaws figures are auctioned off only on some websites that the marketing team of the company approves, but the auctions take place only at certain intervals and the products sell off quickly as people wait impatiently for the auction to take place. The mystery and non-availability further continue and people keep on falling for it the quest to know and have the Kaws characters keeps growing, and demand increases, thereby making it more valuable in monetary terms.
Besides, they are very popular among celebrities. Celebrities buy these characters and post them on their various social media handles. This thing is enough for people to go crazy after anything in general and Kaws characters in particular.
Most Expensive Kaws sold in Auctions
Ten Kaws characters have been sold most expensively from the time Kaws was first introduced in the market:
- Untitled (Kimpsons #3) – The character was introduced in the market in the year 2003. The image featured all the cast of characters of the TV show The Simpsons. It was sold for $2.2 million against its estimate of $509,600 – $764300
- Untitled (Kimpson) – The character was again a sinister-looking reimagination of the family from The Simpsons. It was sold for $2.2 million against its estimate of $509,600
- Untitled (Fatal Group) – the character was introduced in the year 2004. It was figured as the characters from the famous family cartoon series of the 1970s – 80s The Fat Albert Show. It was sold for $2.3 million against an estimate of $700,00 – $900,00
- Kurf (Hot Dog) – this character was introduced in the year 2008. The character is the version of the blue cartoon woodland creature The Smurfs. It was sold at $2.6 million against its estimated price of $1.5 million
- Kurfs (Tangle) – The character was introduced in the year 2009. The character too depicted as a Smurf Character. It was sold for $2.7 million against its estimated price of $600,000
- Armed away – It was a painting that debuted at Honor Fraser Gallery’s exhibition in Los Angeles in the year 2014. It was titled ‘MAN’S BEST FRIEND’. It was sold for $3 million against its estimated price of $1.6 million.
- In the Woods – This was an animation that showcased a darker version of the similar world shown by the Disney Princess Snow White. It was made in the year 2002 and was sold for $3.9 million against the estimated price of $1.5 million.
- The Walk Home – The walk home depicts Spongebob SquarePants, a very famous kids’ show. It was introduced in the year 2012 and was sold for $6 million against the estimated price of $600,000
- Untitled (Kimpsons #1) – This was the first part of the Kimpson series, inspired by the same TV show The Simpsons. It was introduced in 2004 and was sold at $7.4 million against the estimated price of $617, 600
- The Kaws Album – The reference of this was Simpsons paying homage to the cover of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club. It was introduced in the year 2004 and was sold at a whopping $14.8 million against its estimated price of $1 million.
Conclusion
There are various kinds of people in the world who like to keep a collection of certain things. For example, some people have a collection of currencies from different countries, some people have a collection of postcards, some people have a collection of limited edition stuff and there are also people in the world who love to keep a collection of their favorite TV show characters as well. This too contributes to the expensiveness of the characters such as Kaws and others.
FAQs
Q.1. Are Kaws a good investment?
A. Yes, many market experts do believe that Kaws is indeed a good investment as their value rises exponentially and that too immediately.
Q.2. Do people at Kaws accept the payment through Paypal?
A. No, the payments at Kaws are accepted only through credit cards or in the form of cash. There’s no other way you can make payment except these two.
Q.3. What are the authentic websites that auction the Kaws characters?
A. Some authentic websites that do an auction of the Kaws Characters are https://stockx.com/kaws, https://www.ha.com/, https://www.artsy.net/artist/kaws.