Gauntlet Gallery
What is KAWS’s piece called “Gone 2019 (Black)”?
Summary
Gone 2019 (Black) is a black colorway realization of KAWS's emotionally charged Gone composition, in which a Companion figure cradles a limp, lifeless companion in a pietà-like embrace. The monochrome black treatment heightens the work's somber, elegiac tone, stripping the motif to silhouette and form. Rendered with KAWS's signature crossed-out X eyes and rounded cartoon volumes, the piece distills themes of grief, mortality, and care into a graphic, high-contrast object. As part of the broader Gone family, this version carries the same narrative weight as its counterparts while offering the stark, restrained palette that many collectors associate with KAWS's most serious statements.
Why It Matters
Gone 2019 (Black) participates in one of KAWS's signature achievements: taking a cartoon-derived language and using it to express genuine grief. The all-black palette intensifies the elegiac mood, making this version especially resonant for collectors who prize the artist's melancholic register. Like the broader Gone motif, it draws on the pietà to anchor KAWS's figures in centuries of imagery about loss and devotion, evidence of the conceptual ambition that carried his work from streetwear culture into the fine-art mainstream. The carrying-a-fallen-companion image is among his most recognizable and frequently cited compositions, and the black variant offers a graphically bold, display-forward take on it. Its relationship to other Gone versions also makes it attractive to collectors who track KAWS's colorway variations. As always, market standing varies by format and edition, so buyers should verify the specific release; but the subject itself is canonical and consistently regarded as a high point of KAWS's expressive range.
Collector Perspective
This version draws collectors who want KAWS's most emotionally serious motif in a stark, monochrome palette that reads dramatically on display. It is a natural anchor for collections built around mortality, melancholy, and the Companion-BFF relationship, and it pairs especially well with solo Companion pieces to underscore the theme of loss. Collectors who follow KAWS's colorway variants value the black edition as a distinct point within the Gone family. Its restrained palette integrates cleanly into modern interiors and reinforces the gravity of the subject. Because the Gone motif appears across formats and editions, collectors should confirm exactly which release and material they are acquiring, as this materially affects desirability and value.
Historical Context
Gone 2019 (Black) sits within KAWS's mature fine-art period, when the Companion character, first developed through subway-poster interventions and early vinyl toys, had become a vehicle for ambitious, emotionally serious work. The Gone composition's quotation of the pietà links KAWS's cartoon lineage to a long art-historical tradition of grief imagery, demonstrating how far he carried a vocabulary that began in graffiti and designer toys. The 2019 black variant belongs to the same trajectory as his monumental sculptures and multi-figure family groupings, and it documents his continued return to themes of loss, vulnerability, and care that define the emotional core of his oeuvre.
FAQ
How does Gone 2019 (Black) differ from Gone?
It is a black colorway of the same Gone composition; the monochrome palette heightens the work's somber, elegiac tone.
What does the Gone motif depict?
A Companion figure cradling a limp companion in a pietà-like pose, expressing grief, mortality, and care.
Why choose the black version?
The all-black palette is graphically bold and intensifies the serious, melancholic mood many collectors associate with KAWS's strongest statements.
What should I verify before buying?
Confirm the specific format, edition, and material, since the Gone motif appears across multiple releases with differing value.
Related Works
About the Artist
KAWS is the working name of Brian Donnelly (b. 1974, Jersey City). He began in the 1990s subverting bus-shelter and phone-booth advertisements, then built a singular visual language around the Companion — a Mickey-Mouse-descended figure with crossed-out X eyes — alongside Chum, BFF, Accomplice and a cast of appropriated cartoon characters. His practice spans paintings, screenprints, vinyl and bronze sculpture, and the monumental KAWS:Holiday installations shown in cities worldwide. His work is held by the Brooklyn Museum, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and major private collections, and he is among the most collected artists of his generation.