Earlier this Fall, I wrote a post about a tiny little painting in our collection by the amazing Kristin Tereck, who goes by Cuddly Rigor Mortis. We have about a dozen of Kristin’s paintings in our collection but I wanted to highlight one of the pieces that I love dearly and has had an interesting life. In current day, I’ve now been contacted by two other collectors about this painting and possibly selling it. When we were moving back into HK5Corner in 2024 and I was moving a good portion of our collection out of storage, I contemplated selling some of my Cuddly collection. There is a lot, and as we approached the twins first teen birthday. I started to ask myself, have I grown out of these pieces. We started collecting Kristin’s pieces because the first pieces were intended for our children’s bedrooms. As the kids arrived and grew up, the collection grew and grew.

In 2014, when the twins were barely past their first birthday, Paley and I did a trip to LA to do a solo trip to Disneyland and attend one of Kristin’s Gallery 1988 shows that I knew I wanted to grab a few pieces. From that show I believe I bought “Tex” the hot dog riding a wiener dog and the “Poop Head” piece, a dung beetle dancing on top of a poo. We got to meet Kristin in person and she was the nicest person ever and she connected with Paley immediately. The whole trip was an experience, especially the monsoon happening outside the gallery. I wrote more about the trip back in 2014 on hkfamily5.com. Over the next few years we kept adding to our collection, later in 2014 I was able to get my hands on one of my coveted pieces.

Kristin & Paley at the 2014 opening @ Gallery 1988.

As 2014 unfolded, the 30th Anniversary of the movie Ghostbusters was well underway with the art world jumping to the mass marketing opportunity. Gallery 1988 organized a group show that would tour over several months, celebrating the films milestone. The gallery hosted shows in New York City, Chicago and their gallery in Los Angeles. I purchased the piece at the opening of the New York show and waited several months for the piece to be delivered. A wait I was willing to wait. The piece finished the tour at Comic-Con in San Diego and then returned back to the LA gallery and then made it’s way to our home later in 2014.

Shortly after the piece was delivered, I thought the tour had caused some damage to the piece. The painting surface or varnish seemed to have som wear and tear on it. I was recently in contact Kristin about another piece we had in the twins bedroom. Our little twins got their hands on a sharpie pen and decided to add to the artwork. Thankfully under the direction of Kristin, we were able to get most of the pen removed from the piece. What was remarkable was they only drew on the wood canvas of the piece, not on the wall. I reached out Kristin again, sharing a couple of images of the ghostbuster painting, explaining my concern about possible damage. I had placed the “Stay-Puft” painting next to “Tex”painting to show difference between the two piece. She immediately responded the two pieces were actually on two different species of wood. She noted that the varnish used on each of the painting were different due to the species and that the varnish will not be exactly the same. Based on the photos she assured me that the piece was in a good condition. And she was absolutely correct. Twelve years later and the piece is honestly the same as it was when it was delivered in 2014.

The shot I sent Kristin showing the two textures.

The piece found a home in Clem’s office at work for many years. As he was moving offices in 2019, the piece returned home for storage. I never let the piece leave the house ever again. As I was contemplating reducing our collection of Cuddly pieces in the collection. After I got the majority of them hung or tucked away on a bookshelf. I realized these pieces really had a permanent place in the collection. Will ever sell them? Well I am sure the kids my sell a few when I am dead, but for now, I am enjoying all of the pieces. One the best parts of Kristin’s work, is that I have never had to frame a single piece in the collection. From her selection of the wood and the care into preserving them, they have aged beautifully. Now, I do periodically look over the pieces from time to time. While you are not supposed to revarnish the whole painting, it is wood and there is going to wear and tear. As the first piece in the collection will his 20 years old in early 2028. Time does tick away.

One side note, while I mostly commission pieces for ourselves, over the years I have on occasion commissioned gifts to friends. 2014 was a very active year between Kristin and I. Not only was it my 40th birthday year, and I was neck deep with 3 kids that were five and under, I was also busy planning #brianh40th. A good friend of ours was also about to celebrate his 40th and while my memory is failing me on how he celebrated his 40th (I want to say it was in a SF Bar) I did manage to work on a surprise for him to mark his 40th year. His affinity for the Muppets is widely known and one of his most endearing parts of him.

Rowlf & Kermit John by Cuddly Rigor Mortis 2014

In reaching out to Kristin, I gave her the promp. Rowlf Playing a Piano with Kermit & Elton John! The final result was a amazing piece fitting our friend perfect, I knew was going to love it to death. Everything about this piece was spot on, even down to the shade casted by the piano and Rowlf. When this piece was delivered, I was excited to wrap it up and ship it down to our friend. He loved it. He paid me back in spades by coming to my #brianhk40th dressed up as The Rocketeer. Fast forward a decade later, we attended his 50th, and I loved seeing his homestead adorned with the painting. Like a lot of Kristin’s pieces, these pieces make you smile and provides happiness with all the nostalgia that comes with them, or the tongue and cheek like in “Tex” or “Poop Head.”

HKfamCollection: Ghosts & Cuddly Rigor Mortis

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