Gauntlet Gallery — Complete KAWS Index
Supermodel 2
Work Summary & Collector Notes
Supermodel 2 is the counterpart to Supermodel 1 in KAWS's appropriation of fashion and luxury advertising imagery. Continuing the artist's early strategy of hijacking glossy commercial photography, the work overlays the seductive aesthetic of supermodel advertising with KAWS's cartoon vocabulary and signature X-eyed defacements. Rendered as a flat graphic with his clean, confident linework, it extends the disruptive gesture that defined his subway-poster and bus-shelter interventions into editioned form. As the second panel of a numbered pairing, Supermodel 2 completes a diptych-style set, embodying the moment KAWS turned the polished surfaces of consumer desire into a platform for his street-rooted subversion of advertising and celebrity culture.
Collector notes: Edition label was not stated, and total quantity was not documented in the saved record. Edition-specific signature, numbering, and stamp details were not stated in the saved release record. Verify signing and numbering against a documented example of this edition.
Why It Matters
Supermodel 2 carries the same conceptual weight as its partner: it preserves the appropriation-of-advertising gesture that launched KAWS's career and underlies his entire practice. Before Companion became a global merchandise property, KAWS was an artist who confronted the imagery of consumerism directly — defacing fashion campaigns, luxury ads, and public posters with crossbones and dead-eyed faces. The Supermodel works belong to that critical phase, when his street-derived language was aimed squarely at the seductive machinery of branding and beauty. As the second half of a numbered pair, this piece matters to collectors who understand KAWS through his origins rather than his later character merchandising, and it documents the lineage connecting his graffiti and ad-takeover roots to the blue-chip stature he later attained. It situates KAWS within a broader Pop and appropriation tradition of artists who weaponized advertising imagery, while retaining the raw immediacy that distinguishes his early output.
Collector Perspective
Supermodel 2 is most compelling acquired alongside Supermodel 1, completing the numbered pairing that set-oriented collectors prize. It speaks to buyers who favor KAWS's conceptual, ad-disruption roots over his ubiquitous Companion editions, offering a collection both range and a clear origin story. The fashion-advertising subject gives it an editorial sensibility that hangs well in design-forward or style-conscious interiors, and its relative scarcity compared to mainstream KAWS prints lends it distinction. Within a serious holding it functions as context, grounding the more familiar characters in the appropriation practice from which they emerged.
Historical Context
Like its partner, Supermodel 2 belongs to KAWS's formative period of appropriating and altering advertising, an outgrowth of his late-1990s subway and bus-shelter interventions. This was the era before Companion and Chum were spun off as commercial properties, when KAWS remained in direct dialogue with the consumer imagery he defaced. Fashion and supermodel advertising provided ideal targets for his critique of branding and beauty. The work thus occupies a pivotal point on KAWS's trajectory — from graffiti and ad-takeover artist toward studio editions, designer toys, and ultimately fine-art and monumental recognition — retaining the appropriation-driven impulse at the foundation of his ascent.
Documented Release Details
- Object type
- Editioned print or object
- Release date
- 1999
- Release-date note
- Catalog-listed release year from the saved secondary record; primary release-page confirmation remains pending.
- Series
- Medium and materials
- Medium and materials were not documented in the saved record.
- Edition details
- Edition label was not stated, and total quantity was not documented in the saved record.
- Signature and marks
- Edition-specific signature, numbering, and stamp details were not stated in the saved release record. Verify signing and numbering against a documented example of this edition.
Documented History and Meaning
History note: This page treats KAWS's broader career as background context, not proof that this specific edition belongs to any single exhibition or event. Release-level facts here come from a saved secondary catalog record.
Meaning / interpretation: No per-work artist statement is recorded for this edition. Any thematic reading should be treated as interpretation of the imagery, not a documented statement of the artist's intent. This interpretive note follows the cited artist or publisher context.
Release context: The saved catalog lists 1999. It is grouped under Print in the saved record.
Authentication, Presentation and Provenance
- Original presentation
- Original packaging or presentation was not documented in the release sources reviewed.
- Authentication note
- Compare the support, dimensions, edition number, and signature against a documented example of this edition. Gauntlet Gallery does not authenticate works purchased from third parties.
- Provenance note
- Edition origin is attributed in the saved record to the release source named in the saved record. That does not establish the ownership history of an individual copy: retain the original invoice, reseller or gallery paperwork, labels, correspondence, and condition photographs.
Sources and Verification
Verification status: Secondary catalog snapshot; artist-level context added
- KAWSONE — official site — KAWS studio · primary artist source · Accessed 2026-07-13 · Official artist site; career context, not an individual-edition record.
- KAWS — Wikipedia · reference encyclopedia · Accessed 2026-07-13 · General artist-level biographical and career reference.
- KAWS (Q3194367) — Wikidata · reference knowledge base · Accessed 2026-07-13 · Structured identifier used for the artist across catalog metadata.
FAQ
What is Supermodel 2?
It is the second panel in a numbered pairing applying KAWS's appropriation of fashion and luxury advertising imagery, overlaid with his cartoon characters and X-eyed defacements.
Should it be bought with Supermodel 1?
Collectors typically acquire the two together, as they form a numbered pair.
How does it connect to KAWS's roots?
It continues his subway and bus-shelter ad-takeover practice, redirecting that disruptive gesture toward fashion advertising in editioned form.
Is the edition size known?
We describe it generally as a limited edition and avoid stating a specific size without verified data.
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