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We are excited to once again be collaborating with our friends Mark and Sven (and the entire coarse team) to bring you a new exhibit of their sculptures.
Join us the evening of Saturday, August 13, 7-10pm for the opening of Cold Ways: Nights That Haunt the Past, sculptures by Mark Landwehr and Sven Waschk (coarse).
Line tickets will be available to pickup at the gallery, 2780 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, starting at 11am on Saturday, and will be used to determine purchase order beginning at 7pm.
In addition to new original sculptures, Mark and Sven will be debuting two exclusive figures, an illustrated book and two new art prints.
All releases will be available first to attendees of the opening reception. Online release will happen in the week after the opening and further details will be posted in advance, thank you for your patience.
The exhibit continues through September 11, 2016.
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About the Artists
Work in the coarse world began in 2003, when German artists Mark Landwehr and Sven Waschk began developing their unique style of sculpting, which creates the illusion that they have chiseled and exposed their sculptures from three-dimensional rock.
While the underlying stories of the individual pieces vary and express themes of denial, betrayal and lies, the sculptures aim to make an impression on multiple levels. While often looking cute at first glance, a distinct silence, sadness and loneliness simultaneously convey an alternate effect. These subtle and almost shy undertones expose our souls’ vulnerability, which we so often try to conceal.
Within the last 10 years the artists have evolved, gaining international recognition and collectors all over the world. The artists focus primarily on statues that range from small to life-size and are made from resin and/or fiberglass. They are finished as single pieces or in small limitation runs and are entirely crafted by the artists themselves.
After the initial conceptual phase the artists go directly into the sculpting process. Depending on the complexity of the piece it can take months until the shape is finalized. This is followed by mould-making, casting, sanding, detailing and painting in the artists' studios. Mark Landwehr about his work for coarse: “We pay highest attention to every detail of our work in order to avoid distracting the viewer. This way people can dive into an almost surreal scenery and sense the underlying pain, sadness and loneliness of our creations. We want to create a second reality.”
Selected sculptures frequently become limited-run vinyl figure releases. Under the brand “coarse” the sculptures get distributed worldwide in award-winning packages always designed by the artists themselves.
This is the fifth coarse exhibit at Rotofugi Gallery.
If you have been reading our newsletters and Facebook posts of the last few days you know that we put out a call for help. We had found ourselves in a very difficult position for any business — basically out of cash, maxed out on credit and needing to pay vendors and rent.
We decided to put our trust in our friends and customers and be transparent about our situation, not to ask for a handout, but to ask for your business in a time when we could really use it.
I'm happy to report that the community responded in an amazing way....not only have we been flooded with orders (our team here will be packing and shipping through the weekend so that we can get caught up) but we have been showered with kind words, love and generous offers to help.
All of the proceeds of the past few days will go towards putting us back on our feet so we can focus on growing our business and looking for more fun and exciting ways to keep our now 12-year old dream alive. We've still got a lot to do and a good amount of debt, but at least we're in a position to fight again.
We want to sincerely thank each and every person who has placed an order, shared our posts or visited the store over the past few days. We've been working overtime to make sure that we can earn the trust you've put in us as a valued source of toys and art and are optimistic that we will not only continue to exist, but thrive going forward.
One of the things we will be doing to add to the bottom line is making our gallery and store available for private events...both personal and corporate. While we don't have all of the details firmed up just yet, please reach out to us if you are in the Chicago area and have a need for private event space rental. We think we have a unique space, filled with wonderful toys and art, that will work for a variety of purposes. If this is something that interests you, please reach out and we'll let you know the details.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Whitney & Kirby Kerr
We've got our remaining stock back from SDCC now and will release it on our online store this coming Monday, August 1 at 8pm Central Time. We'll have the Fluffy House, Chima Group and Uamou releases, most in limited supply.
Also releasing this coming Monday evening at 8pm Central Time, this fantastic Innocent x Negora Rainbow Set by Mai Nagamoto x Konatsu and new Dream Fantasy glow in the dark Negoras and Migoras, also by Konatsu.
Note: These items as well as the majority of the SDCC releases are not currently listed on our website but will be listed in advance of the release on Monday. Please check our new arrivals or home page.
A quick note about our cart system...
When we originally released the Fluffy House pieces we had reserved for online release we had a lot of feedback from customers that even though the item page showed stock available, when buyers reached the checkout, they were told that the inventory was not available.
Our store is on the Shopify platform, and it's one of the idiosyncrasies of their cart that inventory is only reduced when a buyer completes checkout, but it is "held" for 5 minutes for the buyer when they start the checkout procedure.
The result is as described above. If you reach the checkout and are told that no inventory is available, it is because it is "held" by other buyers who have already started to check out. You've basically been beat to the punch, as frustrating as that can be.
What does that mean for you? If you are buying an item that you suspect might sell out quickly, the best way to reserve your purchase is to immediately proceed to the checkout after adding the item to your cart. To do so, either click the View Cart link that pops up after you add an item to your cart, or click the cart icon near the top right of the page, then click "Proceed to Checkout." It's no guarantee that you'll score that hot release, but we hope it helps a little!
Good morning/afternoon/evening, whatever it happens to be where you are! Another SDCC has come and gone, whew! Thank you to everyone who stopped by the booth or bought some of our online releases the past couple days!
We do have some of the exclusives from Fluffy House, Uamou and Chima Group left. We're sorry, but all of the exclusives and or customs by Grumble Toy, Jeremiah Ketner, Max Toy Company and Rumble Monsters have sold out.
Online sales of remaining exclusives will happen when the shipment from San Diego is back to us, which should take about a week.
Keep an eye on our website or Facebook for updates or sign up for our newsletter (subscribe link is in the footer at the bottom of the page). As soon as we have the stock we will put up a notice on our blog as well as social media, giving at least 24 hours notice, about the exact date and time items will be made available via our online store. Thanks and have a great week!
Looking to buy SDCC stuff? Use this link to see items that will be available on our online store starting Wednesday, July 20 at 8pm Central Time.
For items not listed there, any that are left after the convention will be offered in that same category about one week after the end of the convention.
Thanks and hope everyone is having a great week!
