But during all the time Freeny has employed this aesthetic, there have been two guiding principles behind his choices of base forms: these are all “characters that I like from my childhood or characters that have a design aesthetic that I’m attracted to,” admits Freeny before emphasizing that they must “produce fantastically grotesque skeletal systems once dissected.” But there is one design that he’s been eager to work on: the Companion figure by KAWS (Brian Donnelly). Unable to acquire the piece in either its original (1999) or Five Years Later (2004) versions, Freeny has “literally been itching to do this [piece] for many years”, admitting that “it wasn’t until recently that I could get my hands on an official piece”, referring to last year’s Open Edition (see our review here). Excited to begin his anatomical dissection work on a Companion, his initial work-in-progress post to Instagram resulted in an unforeseen response.
Freeny discloses that his “approach to designing the insides of characters is to let the exterior dictate what the interior looks like”, thus he wanted “to explore what the actual anatomy may look like that would fit inside the Companion. The Flayed Companion[‘s] anatomical side, being appropriated from the Hirst piece, does not fit what the anatomy should be inside the Companion. These are anatomical parts from a human that have been crammed inside a cartoon character. The anatomy which I sculpted pays tribute to the actual character’s exterior.”
And Freeny’s finished Inappropriation piece accomplishes this, rendering anatomical aspects of the Companion‘s simple shapes and subtle curves, such as the crossbones, teeth, nasal hole, and even X’d out eye in its skull. With the original figure’s form painted in flat white with Freeny’s sculpted details in a satin finish, his exposed dissection elements draw attention all the more. But should one notice that the bones in the figure’s forearm appear to resemble an X in mimicry to the character’s eyes, Freeny will correct you, stating that “for the hand on that character to be in that position those bones would cross each other”, as these “bones in the forearm, the radius and ulna, crossover each other allowing your wrist to twist back-and-forth.” And Freeny’s reasoning for this element sums up his mentality superbly, striving for anatomical accuracy within an imaginary form.
For more information on Jason Freeny:
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Today we’re going to examine the works of Sket One, specifically his product-based custom and production pieces. Now, since you might not be familiar with Sket’s history, let’s start there. Born Andrew Yasgar on August 16th, 1970, Sket grew up in New Haven, Connecticut and began writing graffiti in 1986,…

The term Demogorgon might be recognizable as the nickname the kids in Stranger Things give The Monster that exists in The Upside Down, a name they appropriated from a demon prince in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Though it originated long before its first D&D appearance in 1976, as…
Who did Kaws' sculpts for him?
This is a great question and one, that to the best of my knowledge, has no publicly known answer. While it is quite possible that KAWS himself sculpted the pieces, it is just as (if not more) likely that it was work-for-hire individuals. Specifically, the factory's in-house sculptor (for the original 1999 Bounty Hunter released version) and someone in Medicom's dedicated sculpted department (for the 5YL and Open Editions).
It's a bit rich of Kaws to bitch at Freeny, seeing as Kaws has made his career of appropriating by mixing his own work with other iconic characters, brands and individuals. (Simpsons, mickey mouse, CK advertising, kate moss) I always thought the Companion was basically Mickey Mouse with the Kaws head on!
Its not like the guy has done anything new in years anyway, maybe its just hype to get some focus back on his work.
Either way they are both one trick ponies.