Two years ago we were very much in the middle of pandemic-induced chaos and the Sad & Horrible Show seemed oddly perfect for the times...and though things are a little better now, we couldn't resist the urge to make things just a little more sadder & horribler....that's right, it's the Sad & Horrible Show 2 featuring all new works by Sad Salesman & Horrible Adorables!
The Sad & Horrible Show 2 — Sadder & Horribler
New Works by Sad Salesman & Horrible Adorables
December 10, 2022-January 8, 2023
Open Daily 10am-6pm
The exhibit will be open for viewing and sales beginning Saturday, December 10 at 10am and we will be holding a soft opening for fans to meet and chat with the Horrible Adorables...please check our social media for an announcement on the times when they will be at the gallery.
Can’t make it to the gallery? Sign up for our gallery previews email list at previews.rotofugi.com to get first chance at online purchasing of these new works!
The gallery is open for viewing at Rotofugi, 2780 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, 10am-6pm daily, or view online at gallery.rotofugi.com
About the Artists
Sad Salesman is New York-based artist Eric Althin…he believes there is a little sad salesman in everyone. He created a tragic but tenacious fellow, who ended up becoming his mascot/logo/website. He has always been a character lover and for most of his life, a toy collector. As a kid it was He-man and Star Wars toys, then it became designer toys and sofubi. He started sculpting his own toy designs and fell in love with bringing new characters into the world to make your inner sad salesman smile :)
Horrible Adorables are the creations of Jordan Elise Perme and Christopher Lees, a wife and husband team from Cleveland. They met at the Cleveland Institute of Art where Jordan graduated with her BFA in Fiber & Material Studies, and Chris was pursuing training in fine arts after completing his BS in Mechanical Engineering.
Jordan and Chris bring their soft sculptures to life by meticulously arranging patterns of felt scales onto hand carved forms. The resulting characters have qualities that are booth cartoonish and eerily realistic at the same time. Horrible Adorables are strange hybrid creatures from a fantastical world. Their facial expressions and postures reveal recognizably human emotions as they interact with one another.
In addition to Horrible Adorables, Jordan also works as a freelance toy and textile designer. She has proudly worked for companies such as Little Tikes, Hasbro and Joann Fabrics.
Today (11/27) is the final day that Hebru Brantley's Flynamic Duo 2040 will be available for in-store sales...so if you want to grab Batboy & Sparrow, you've got until 6pm. $1200 — limit 1 set per customer/household. Batboy is 16" tall and his sidekick Sparrow is 13' tall, edition of 225.
If you can't make it to the store, remaining inventory will be sold via lottery and we are now accepting entries through 10am on Wednesday, November 30.
Enter here: http://rtfgi.co/flynamic
Rotofugi — 2780 N. Lincoln Ave. — Chicago
Open 10am-6pm Daily
Join us this Friday for a special Black Friday release from Hebru Brantley! 🖤
The Flynamic Duo Set — 2040 Edition will be available in-store only at our Chicago location starting Friday, November 25 at 11am Central time for $1200 per set, limit one per customer or household.
Batboy is 16 inches tall and his sidekick Sparrow is 13 inches tall. Edition of 225 Sets.
Rotofugi — 2780 N. Lincoln Ave. — Chicago — Open 10am-6pm Daily
We will have 35 sets available. Any sets that are not sold by Monday, November 28 will be made available for online sales via lottery, please stay tuned.
Join us Saturday, November 19, 2-4pm for a special in-store signing with Chicago-based artist Sentrock!
We will have on hand our exclusive Hustler's Ambition — Chicago Edition figure produced by UVD Toys — this limited edition of 125 figures by Sentrock celebrates the hustle of the ubiquitous street food vendors found in Chicago and beyond.
Standing 8 inches tall, and a massive 10 inches long, Hustler's Ambition is a sizable chunk of vinyl art and is priced at $160.
Figures are available now — you can pre-purchase for pickup during the signing to guarantee one or if you've already purchased, just swing by with your figure to get it signed!
Rotofugi — 2780 N. Lincoln Ave. — Chicago
About the Artist
Joseph Perez, best known as “Sentrock” is a self taught street artist. Sentrock witnessed street art as a form of expression, birthing his interest to pick a spray can and continue his artistic voice. His early works were developed from graffiti writing in Mexican-American neighborhoods. Sentrock’s signature bird-mask over a human figure has become his most recognizable declaration. Sentrock describes his bird-mask as analogous to humanity: a person who is able to find or escape to their freedom by placing them in a different reality. Through his work, he has become a catalyst for his community. His work presents undertones of hope, freedom and expression. His work encapsulates his background, history, upbringing, empathy, and compassion for his community.
We welcome back one of our all time favorites in the gallery this month! After rising to prominence during the 1990's gigposter revival, Derek Hess has continued to grow as an artist for the past three decades, while also championing mental health.
Join us beginning November 12 for an all new exhibit of drawings and paintings by Derek, his first exhibit with us since 2015's "Greatest Hits."
Jonny on the Spot with the Ammo
New Works by Derek Hess
November 12-December 4, 2022
Open 10am-6pm Daily
View in person at Rotofugi, 2780 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago or online at gallery.rotofugi.com (after the exhibit opens).
For first opportunity to purchase online, please visit previews.rotofugi.com to sign up for our Gallery Previews email list.
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About the Artist
Since he first emerged as the most artistically capable figure in the 1990s poster art renaissance, Derek Hess has made a name for himself in the worlds of fine arts, album covers, apparel design, tattooing, and even music festivals. Though he explores dark and intense themes, he’s nonetheless made art so broadly appealing that his work has been collected in the Louvre, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in tattoo parlors—and Hess is equally proud to be in all of those places.
Born in Cleveland in 1964, Hess’ ascendance in the arts should probably come as little surprise. His father, Roy Hess, was a noteworthy designer, and chairman of the lauded industrial design department at the Cleveland Institute of Art. From a young age, Hess was correctly trained in classical art and design.
Hess studied at that school, and at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, but he never landed in his father’s department, trying out illustration and graphic design before settling on a major in printmaking. It was that discipline, combined with his love of music, that led Hess to poster art fame. He had begun booking post-hardcore and underground rock concerts at the Euclid Tavern, a divey blues bar across the street from the Cleveland Institute of Art, and he drew his own fliers to promote his shows. It didn’t hurt that Hess was musically ahead of the curve, booking then-unknowns like Helmet, Green Day, and Melvins at a time when the other clubs in town couldn’t have cared less.
But as that music scene grew, people started taking as much note of Hess’ distinctive fliers as of the bands themselves—his imagery was perfect for the music’s sound, a contradictory chimera of (and sly commentary on) toughness and fragility, grandiose posturing in the face of fatalism. Though he preferred a very casual, loose, sketchy line, it was clear that Hess paid attention in anatomy class, and his work won high praise from art-world mavens who couldn’t have cared less about Cop Shoot Cop.
“I was excited about these bands,” Hess said, “and I could draw, so I just went ahead and did it. There was always inspiration to work from in the bands’ names, or their images, or just whatever their music made me feel like drawing. People started noticing the art, and then people started putting that imagery with the club, in their minds. And THEN it started to become about the artist that did all the cool fliers for the cool club that had the cool bands.”
Hess’ fliers caught the eye of gallerist Marty Geramita, who convinced Hess to level up from photocopied fliers into silkscreened posters, and formed a business devoted to that pursuit. It was from there that Hess became internationally known, creating posters for Pearl Jam and Pink Floyd; album covers for Sepultura, Converge, and R.L. Burnside; and launching the Strhess apparel line, which itself spun off into a traveling music festival.
Since then, Hess has eschewed most commercial work, focusing on original drawings and fine art serigraphs. In the 2014 documentary film Forced Perspective, Hess opened up publicly for the first time about his struggles with bipolar disorder and alcoholism, and the outpouring of fan support led him to mental health activism. He formed Acting Out! to help spread awareness of mental illness among creative people, devoted to panel discussions and arts across all disciplines, including music, comedy, visual art and film.
“Most of the emotions my work relates to are those that can be seen as the ‘negative' ones,” said Hess. “My work isn’t happy, there’s angst, depression, loss, fear, and loneliness in my work. Drawing the essence of emotions is elemental—we as a species will ALWAYS have heartache. It’d be deeply satisfying in my work stood the test of time, if it would be as relevant to someone in a hundred years as it felt to me the day I drew it.”
