Fri 11/21-3/22/26
Most fans discovered the art of Cleveland’s Derek Hess through rock & roll. He got his start drawing flyers for the underground rock shows he booked at the Euclid Tavern in the ’90s, which evolved into screenprint posters that earned him national acclaim and had him doing concert posters for bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Pearl Jam in addition to his loud ‘n’ heavy favorites such as The Jesus Lizard. He created a following for his merch, and many of his fans transformed his distinctive art into tattoos. He later evolved into a fine-art career, drawing on his identifiable style and imagery but adding more layers of personal meaning.
Astute fans likely noticed that his imagery included of dinosaurs, fossils, skulls and other icons of natural history. They were inspired by childhood visits to the Cleveland museum of Natural History, where his show Rock of Ages: The Evolutionary Art of Derek Hess, will open this Friday November 21 and remain on view through March 22, 2026 in its upstairs Corning Gallery. It’s included with regular admission.
The show emphasizes Hess’ connection to the museum and its catalog of prehistoric items, but it covers the full scope of his career and the many sources that fed his work. A selection of his concert posters are there, of course, including an oversized blowup of his dramatic skull image for a Jawbox show at Peabody’s Down Under. Towering some ten feet tall, it’s even more dramatic.
Across the way, there’s a wall devoted to Hess’s personal history. An oversized photo depicts Hess drawing at the museum. On one side, there’s a photo of Hess, age 5, on a trip to the museum with a group of children. On the other, there’s an early painting done by his father, who taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art, which Hess also attended (different departments).
His father’s life also partly inspired another interest of his: World War II in which he served. Some of the most striking drawings in the show depict fish, another passion of his, transformed its fighter planes, studded with World War II insignia, ejecting bombs — in the form of fish crackers. Hess is known for his dark, often bleak imagery, but he has a sense of humor too.
One large drawing on brown paper depicts a Lake Erie sheepshead (he likes to fish but says this one gets no love from him except as an artistic subject); many of the others are reproductions of drawings he’s long sold. But to show one pair of large drawings on view he tracked down the private collector who lent them for the show: drawn on maps, they’re framed in silver metal with studs, evoking a vintage fighter plane.
There are examples of his flower drawings, his series of animals dressed in suits assuming tongue-in-cheek human roles. Many of the pieces are reproductions because the original has been sold, a good problem for an artist to have.
In the show, Hess shares his art-making in another way. One wall will be festooned with pages from his sketchbook. In front of it is a table with some of the items that inspired him such as toys and CDs of his favorite music (he was a host on WCSB-FM, the college station now embroiled in controversy). Visitors are invited to make their own sketches inspired by his work.
Whether a visitor is or isn’t a rock & roll fan or passionate about dinosaurs (one expects that will interest most of those who pay admission to this museum), Hess’s drawing skill and the way he finds diversity in a specific repertoire of images is inspiring.