Hidden Gems: Mini Cuddly Rigor Mortis

I was recently walking into Clem‘s office and a little painting caught my eye. This little monster was painted by the talented Cuddley Rigor Mortis, aka Kristin Tercek. While we have pieces throughout the house, this little munchkin is a hidden gem for sure inside HK five corner. We started collecting Kristin’s work right around the time Paley was born. I believe the first piece I purchased was in 2008. A lot of her paintings are a play on a certain themes, references to tv/movies, books, or simply fantasized creatures brought to life with paint and wood. All in all, I think I have about a dozen pieces in the collection. She’s probably one of the most represented artists in the HKfamcollection.

There are so many great pieces to choose from. From “Tex” the hot dog riding a wiener dog to paintings based on Wes Anderson films that were collected from Spoke gallery in San Francisco. This tiny little monster was apart of a group show that was connected to an artist who specialized in doll houses decor. The show was literally inside miniaturized art gallery at a art gallery. Unfortunately, I never documented the two paintings I purchased from the show. The other piece was either by Daniel Danger or Dan McCarthy. Sadly that little guy is nowhere to be found. My guess is it was swooped up into some bin of small trinkets or walked off during a party or event. Today the painting still remains in Clem’s office, before the remodel, the painting actually sat on a bookcase that served as divider for Clem’s office in our dinning room. I believe I purchased the two mini-pieces around 2010, which is also a time frame that I am still trying to recover emails.

Recently I was contacted by another collector about one of the pieces in our collection. He found me through instagram wanted to inquire if I was willing to sell the print. It was an interesting and fun conversation! He is on a mission to collect as many of Kristin’s works/prints to create the largest collection of her prints. Unfortunately, I had inform him I actually don’t own any print's by Kristin. The piece in question was a GhostBusters themed piece for an anniversary show that Gallery 1988 was doing and the piece was to tour with a larger show to celebrate the movies 30th Anniversary back in 2014, can’t believe that was over a decade ago. I’ll write more about that piece later. All of the Cuddly pieces in our collection are originals. Sadly I was not able to help him out with adding to his large collection. It was a fun conversation to have and it actually sparked this first post about Kristin’s work. He was curious about this piece because while it was a typical imaginary character for Kristin, the size and setting for the piece was unusual.

For now, I am still trying to track the origin of this little guy. Kristin is still going strong with her artwork and even branching out more into special toys. Recently she worked with Broke Piggy Gallery to do custom sparkling toy. Sadly I was to slow to the game to grab one of the little guys. It looks like they sold out pretty quick, because the show was just on 7/11. One of the best part of following an artists career is watching them grow and explore the artworld. Shortly after purchasing my first piece by Kristin, she started a partnership with the world of Disney and started hosting shows at the WonderGround Gallery at Downtown Disney at Disneyland. That move would catapult her artwork into pop culture, and broaden her audience. I hope to have an update sometime this year or next on how this little one came to be in our hands. (Man getting old sucks!)