FLOAT 100 · Art · No. 98
Holiday Companion (Taipei) Grey
For nine days in January 2019 an inflatable KAWS Companion more than 110 feet long sat in front of Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, and this 7-inch grey vinyl is the souvenir collectors still chase.
- Year
- 2019
- Maker
- KAWS
- By price in art
- 100 of 100
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Create a free account- Artist
- KAWS (Brian Donnelly, born 1974)
- Released
- January 19, 2019, with the opening of KAWS:HOLIDAY in Taipei
- Pose
- Seated, resting Companion, echoing the sculpture outside the memorial hall
- Material
- Painted cast vinyl, in custom blister packaging
- Size
- About 7 in tall (17.8 cm); listed as 5.5 x 7 x 5.5 in
- Retail
- $199
- Edition
- Limited but unnumbered; production total not published
- Colorways
- Three: grey, brown and black. This entry is the grey
- Publisher
- AllRightsReserved, Hong Kong
The Companion goes on holiday
HOLIDAY is a traveling project in which KAWS and the Hong Kong creative studio AllRightsReserved install a giant inflatable Companion, the artist's skull-headed, X-eyed take on Mickey Mouse, in a public place for a short run. Before Taipei, a HOLIDAY Companion was installed on Seokchon Lake in Seoul in 2018. After Taipei, in March 2019, a 121-foot-long version was installed in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour during Art Basel, anchored by a 40-ton weight.
The Taipei stop came with its own merchandise: vinyl figures of the sculpture in three colors, a set of ceramic plates, five T-shirts and three tote bags, some decorated with a KAWS take on xiao long bao, the Taiwanese soup dumpling.
The figure shows the Companion sitting back in a relaxed, resting pose. One listing compares it with KAWS's earlier sculpture Resting Place.
Nine days at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
KAWS:HOLIDAY Taipei ran from January 19 to 27, 2019, in the plaza of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. It was the artist's first work in the Taiwanese capital, and at the time his largest and most technically ambitious: an inflatable seated Companion reported at more than 110 feet, or about 11 stories, and described as 36 meters long.
The project was brought to Taiwan by the Singaporean singer-songwriter and KAWS collector JJ Lin, whose company JFJ Productions produced it with AllRightsReserved. KAWS teased it on social media, joking that it would be hard to install a work that size 'without someone leaking images.'
Not everyone was charmed. One Texas arts publication's coverage of the debut included a critique arguing that KAWS 'merely repeats what's already there' and lacks the political edge of an artist like Keith Haring.
The $199 figure
The vinyl figures went on sale at the memorial hall from 6 p.m. Taipei time on January 19, 2019, and online the same day. AllRightsReserved listed the figures at $199 each, the ceramic plates at $130, and shirts and totes at $50.
Sources disagree on the online date. The main U.S. resale listing gives a release date of January 19, 2019, but its own description says the figure was released on January 29, 2019, exclusively through a Japanese web shop. Exhibition coverage from the time says the products were available online from January 19.
The grey figure is grey and white with the Companion's X eyes and a brand stamp under the feet. It is from an unnumbered edition that sold out.
On the resale market
Like other KAWS HOLIDAY figures, the Taipei grey trades actively on resale platforms, and condition and packaging drive price. In early October 2026 a used grey Taipei figure in good condition, with minor discoloration, was listed by a U.S. consignment retailer at $162.50, marked down from $325.
KAWS's large works sit in a different world. In November 2018, two months before Taipei, three of his top auction prices were set in a single night in New York, led by Untitled (Fatal Group) at $2.7 million. In April 2019 his painting The KAWS Album brought about $14.7 million in Hong Kong.
The numbers
- Medium
- Painted cast vinyl
- Dimensions
- About 7 in tall; 5.5 x 7 x 5.5 in (14 x 17.8 x 14 cm) as listed
- Edition size
- Unnumbered, sold out; total not published
- Original retail
- $199
- Sculpture it commemorates
- Inflatable seated Companion, more than 110 ft, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, January 19-27, 2019
Timeline
KAWS creates the Companion character.
A HOLIDAY Companion floats on Seokchon Lake in Seoul.
Three KAWS auction highs are set in one night in New York.
KAWS:HOLIDAY opens at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Taipei; the grey, brown and black figures go on sale at $199.
The Taipei installation closes.
Release date for the online drop given in one resale listing's description (its product details say January 19).
A 121-foot HOLIDAY Companion is installed in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour during Art Basel.
The KAWS Album sells for about $14.7 million in Hong Kong.
A used grey Taipei figure is listed at $162.50 by a U.S. consignment retailer.
The world in 2019
China's Chang'e 4 becomes the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the Moon.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, crashes after takeoff from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 aboard.
Fire destroys the roof and spire of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Victor Vescovo makes the deepest dive in history, reaching the Challenger Deep.
Taiwan's parliament becomes the first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2026 | $163 | Asking price, not a saleUsed grey Taipei figure in good condition with minor discoloration, listed by a U.S. consignment retailer; marked down from $325. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Holiday Companion (Taipei) Grey is number 100 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (98 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The figures went on sale at the memorial hall at 6 p.m. Taipei time on opening day.
- The Taipei merchandise included a KAWS version of xiao long bao, Taiwan's soup dumplings.
- The installation was brought to Taiwan by the pop singer JJ Lin, a KAWS collector.
- The Hong Kong HOLIDAY Companion was held in place by a 40-ton weight.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026