rotofugi gallery TM
A Joint Exhibition of The Illustrative Works of Charles Burns & Joshua M. Smith
Career Retrospective
Charles Burns
Portraits An exhibition of portraits by Charles Burns that were published on the cover of The Believer magazine between 2003 and 2013. Using ink on paper in a strict 6 by 6 inch format, Burns creates endless variations of texture, lighting, and composition. His stark, black line offers a distinctive take on the tradition of portrait drawing. Over 300 drawings of artists, writers, musicians, animals, comic characters, and historical figures wil be included. . . . .Alongside this vast series of Believer portraits is a group of Before & After drawings from Charles Burns’s seminal graphic novel Black Hole. In these comic grotesque portraits, themes of adolescent alienation and sexual awakening mingle with imagery of mutation, disease, and violence. Each smiling, yearbook-style portrait is accompanied by a Dorian Gray-like counterpart, picturing the same teenager with some troubling facial alteration.
Comics Burns first comic in 1981 was“El Borbah” — so named in honor of the Mecxican wrestlers Burns admired, and his friend John Borba. He drew his first El Borbah story, “Robot Love,” in 1982 and placed it with Heavy Metal; the character also made an appearance in RAW magazine. Burns would later create a “RAW one-shot,” Curse of the Molemen, starring his Big Baby character. In 1986, he experimented with a weekly strip (“Big Baby,” 1989-1991), and worked on stories for various horror anthologies. In 1994, he began the most ambitious and best work of his career, Black Hole, for Kitchen Sink. Since its debut, Black Hole has been a multiple Harvey, Eisner and Ignatz Award winner, and made The Comics Journal’s list of the “Top 100 English-Language Comics of the Century.” It was collected as a hardcover by Pantheon in 2005.
Magazine Covers A prolific and highly-sought magazine illustrator, Burns has done covers for such magazines as Time and The New Yorker, and is the regular cover artist for The Believer. He’s designed the sets for a New York production of The Nutcracker called The Hard Nut and produced album covers, including the spectacular fold-out that graced Iggy Pop’s “Brick by Brick.” His advertising gigs include the ill-fated O.K. Cola brand (alongside fellow Fantagraphics cartoonist Daniel Clowes) and a huge campaign for Altoids in 2003 which included several comics pages.
rotofugi gallery TM
Career Retrospective
Joshua Smith
Hydro74 | MCMLXXIV Hydro74 is a Orlando based designer, otherwise known as Joshua Smith. The soul purpose of my career is to push the boundries in doing what I feel is relevant to the market as well as extract various elements and trends to be able to offer them up in my own personal work. But let’s be honest. I do what I love because I love it. Not because I have to do it, nor am forced to do it, but rather passionate about doing what I do. I firmly believe in having set style tones, yet a sense of diversity to make any various project unique to the demands that are set forth.
Illustration Complexity and a fluid organic approach is what is highly valued in each and every piece. A Illustration to me is something that tells a story with out words needed. It builds a bond with the viewer who will either get it, or find it horrible, yet, the interaction is what is desired when doing a piece. Some Illustrations are trend based iconic structures meant to embrace the masses to encourage sales, while others are explorations turned to symbolic ideas on paper or fabric. Illustration is something I find deep meaning in.
Type Treatments & Branding Typography is far more than just a simple addition to a product or brand, it is what sets the tone for the entire piece. Each letter has a way of reacting and uniting to form meaningful, powerful words that embrace a sense of emotion or power. With that knowledge, producing pieces that best represent the needs is what Hydro74 prides itself on to help other brands find their identity and voice, philosophically and aesthetically.
rotofugi gallery TM
rotofugi gallery TM
About Us Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery, established in July 2004, is located on the border of Chicago’s Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods in a beautiful vintage building. Since opening, Rotofugi has grown to become one of the world’s premier sellers of designer toys from artists all over the world. Rotofugi features a diverse selection of vinyl figures, capsule toys, plush and more from both eastern and western designers. The adjoining Rotofugi Gallery features monthly art exhibits by a range of both local and nationally known artists. Beginning in late 2007 Rotofugi partnered with Chicago based product development specialist Squibbles Ink to begin producing artist-designed figures by the talented designers located in their home town. Rotofugi is owned and operated by husband and wife duo Kirby and Whitney Kerr. You can find the couple in and around the store on most days. They love to talk about toys and art.
History Rotofugi Gallery started in earnest in 2004 as a part of Rotofugi Designer Toy Store. Our first exhibits were held in the back half of our store and ranged from customized toy shows to more traditional paintings and drawings. While we loved showing work in our store, we began to ache for more space after nearly two years of exhibits in the increasingly cramped space. In August 2006 we were lucky enough to take over the building next door to our toy store and officially open Rotofugi Gallery as it’s own space, giving us more room to do regularly scheduled exhibitions. Curator and artist David “Netherland” van Alphen joined our staff in October 2008 as gallery curator after several years of operating his own gallery in Chicago. In January 2009, we expanded the gallery space once again, doubling our exhibit space. And finally, in August 2010 we moved to our current location in a vintage flatiron building with beautiful 14 foot ceilings and an even more spacious exhibit space shared with our retail store. Over the years we have exhibited works by an impressive list of artists ranging from local Chicago artists to nationally and internationally known creators including (but certainly not limited to) Frank Kozik, Amanda Visell, Tara McPherson, Martin Ontiveros, Jeremiah Ketner, Ken Keirns, Coarse, Tado and well, a whole lot more.
rotofugi gallery TM
rotofugi gallery TM
2780 N Lincoln Avenue 1 1 a m - 7 p m , 7 D ay s a We e k 7 7 3 - 8 6 8 - 3 3 0 8 rotofugi@rotofugi.com