Artist KAWS’ latest piece of art wasn’t displayed in a gallery or an exhibition, but was briefly floating around space. After showcasing his COMPANION piece in in Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong and Japan, the artist decided to take his COMPANION piece to new heights, literally.

The project took place around a month back on July 13, and took around 8 hours to execute, from takeoff to landing. KAWS teamed up with AllRightsReserved for this special project, where COMPANION was fixed to a sounding balloon, which lifted the sculpture 41.5 km into the stratosphere and then popped. COPMANION floated around space for almost two hours before making its way back to earth.

 

 

 

The project was a celebration of 20 years of the KAWS Companion. The artist adopted his astronaut design of the 2013 MTV Music Video Awards Moonman to aptly align it with the space theme.

“So many projects have been cancelled this year. I wanted to create one that could be experienced safely from home,” said KAWS. “Because this year marks 20 years since I created COMPANION, I tried to find a way around all the restrictions and do something special. I felt so confined the past few months that creating a project like this has really given me a chance to escape.”

 

 

KAWS is also commemorating the historic achievement by releasing special collectibles of KAWS: HOLIDAY SPACE. The sculpture stands at 11.5 inches tall, and will be available in three iterations —  metallic gold, silver, and black.