RAT FINK (for Ed Big Daddy Roth) by Robert Williams

Rat Fink (for Ed "Big Daddy" Roth)
Hey Pal, Nothin's Free!
by Robert Williams
Oil on thick cardboard 12 x 17.75 in.
(plus 13 x 2 x .75 in. wood handle for total 30.75 in. height)
Museum Exhibited.
Click Here to Buy Now

Pop-Surrealist painter Robert Williams got his start working for Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth on hotrod-centric T-shirt designs. Throughout the 60s and 70s Roth sold stickers, posters, and apparel from his booth at comic conventions and kustom kulture events. In 1977–a mere year before creating his masterpiece (and future Guns N Roses album cover) Appetite for Destruction, Williams painted this sign for Roth featuring his mascot, Rat Fink, to post at his booth as a warning to would-be customers not to expect free samples. It's paint not ink. This historic piece has a chain of provenance that is practically the holy trinity of lowbrow royalty.