--- title: KAWS Unveils Huge 'Companion' Sculpture in Hong Kong Harbor description: Hong Kong is famous for many striking sights—but a 115-foot-long inflatable, mouse-like sculpture floating on the harbor? That's a new one. canonical: https://time.com/5553351/kaws-artist-sculpture-companion-hong-kong-harbor/ author: Hillary Leung article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-22T09:51:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:58:08.834Z og:title: See the Massive New Hong Kong Installation by Artist KAWS og:description: The 115-foot-long inflatable sculpture will be on show till the end of March og:url: https://time.com/5553351/kaws-artist-sculpture-companion-hong-kong-harbor/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb007529786ad4628/6989471d16d8840cc1c34cf7/kaws-sculpture-hong-kong-harbor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3336 og:image:height: 1877 og:image:alt: kaws-sculpture-hong-kong-harbor og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the Massive New Hong Kong Installation by Artist KAWS twitter:description: The 115-foot-long inflatable sculpture will be on show till the end of March twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb007529786ad4628/6989471d16d8840cc1c34cf7/kaws-sculpture-hong-kong-harbor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nothing to See Here. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=75a1343b-138a-4de2-8cf0-9898e27cf2a5&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Hillary Leung / Hong Kong](https://time.com/author/hillary-leung/) ## Hillary Leung / Hong Kong Mar 22, 2019 9:51 AM UTC  KAWS' sculpture 'Companion' floats in Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong on March 22, 2019. KAWS' sculpture 'Companion' floats in Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong on March 22, 2019. Harimao Lee by [Hillary Leung / Hong Kong](https://time.com/author/hillary-leung/) ## Hillary Leung / Hong Kong Mar 22, 2019 9:51 AM UTC Hong Kong is famous for many striking sights—like the city skyline and the famous Victoria Peak—but a 115-foot-long inflatable, mouse-like sculpture floating on the harbor? That’s a new one. The colossal artwork, unveiled today, is the vision of American street artist KAWS, real name Brian Donnelly. He got his start in the 1990s, doctoring billboards and advertisements on the streets of Brooklyn. Since then, he has exhibited internationally, [illustrated](https://hypebeast.com/2008/11/kanye-west-808s-heartbreak-album-cover-by-kaws) album covers for Kanye West, [collaborated](https://news.nike.com/news/kaws-jordan-4) with Nike, and [designed t-shirts](https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/uniqlo-sesame-street-kaws-fw18-collection/) for Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo. But he is best known for his figurative sculptures, based on playful appropriations from pop culture. The Hong Kong sculpture is entitled _Companion_, and reclines on the harbor waves, its arms and legs outstretched as it faces the sky. “I was thinking of all the tension in the world, and I wanted to create work that would make people think about relaxing,” KAWS told TIME. “And there’s nothing more relaxing than lying on your back in water and looking up at the sky.” The sculpture’s eyes are formed from two black crosses—a feature of the artist’s early street art—and give the character a slightly morbid touch. Almost in playful juxtaposition, its lower torso, with shorts and two comically large buttons, resembles that of Mickey Mouse. “He’s approachable,” KAWS said. “When I created him, I wanted him to have human sensibility.” Before Hong Kong, _Companion_ was exhibited outside the historical [Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall](https://hypebeast.com/2019/1/kaws-holiday-opening-taipei) in Taipei, Taiwan, and [on Seokchon Lake](https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/kaws-holiday-seoul/) in the South Korean capital of Seoul. The New York-based artist has established quite a presence in Asia since his first trip to Japan in the mid 1990s. In recent years, he has held exhibitions in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo, and last May made a permanent mark [in China](https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/kaws-art-collector/index.html) with the unveiling of two bronze statues—one of Companion, the other of another character, BFF—outside a shopping mall in the city of Changsha. As _Companion_ basks on Hong Kong harbor, a concurrent exhibition, _KAWS: Along the Way_, is being held at local art and culture venue [PMQ](http://www.pmq.org.hk/). The showcase features outdoor sculptures and paintings selected from his work over the past ten years. “I’ve always made it a point to get original work in front of people so that they’re not just experiencing it from a magazine or through a phone screen,” KAWS said. _Companion_ will be exhibited until the end of March next to Hong Kong’s waterfront Tamar Park. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5553351/kaws-artist-sculpture-companion-hong-kong-harbor/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5553351/kaws-artist-sculpture-companion-hong-kong-harbor/"},"headline":"Nothing to See Here. 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