Kaws x Mad Hectic – “Kimpsons” Krusty

Rewinding back to 1997 when Kaws first landed in Japan, he worked with realMad Hectic, an apparel brand ran by Yoshifumi Egawa.  In 1999, Kaws was offered an opportunity to create his first companion figure and needless to say his collaboration with Mad Hectic was (in my opinion) the birth of his artwork being known in street culture.   A lot of people (including myself) did not know who KAWS was until maybe his work with Medicom or even his creation of his own brand Original Fake.  My first encounter of Kaw’s work was back in 2005 when I purchased my first Kaws figure, the 1000% Kaws Medicom Blue Chompers figure.

This collaboration was inspired by his work of The Simpsons, hence the “KIMPSONS” was used as the main graphic on a tee.  Though I do not know the exact year this Tee was released, but this art was seen as early as his collaboration with David Sims 2001.  My best guestimate would be this tee was released prior.  Given the artifacts of Nigo’s collection of 8×8 acrylics on canvas, it is evident all the Simpsons characters has been created by Kaws, but how many of the characters made it on actual tees is unknown.  I guess the hunt continues to find all of them, but if you got any details around this release, please feel free to comment below.

Date Purchased: September 25, 2018

Price Paid: $53 USD