Bears - Hardcover

Rogowski, Kent

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1576873730 ISBN 13: 9781576873731

Publisher: powerHouse Books, 2007

Synopsis

Bears, the first book by Kent Rogowski, is a series of portraits of the most unusual sort: ordinary teddy bears that have been turned inside out and restuffed. Each animal's appearance is determined by the necessities of the manufacturing process. Simple patterns and devices never meant to be seen are now prominent physical characteristics, giving each one a distinctly quirky personality: their fasteners become eyes, their seams become scars, and their stuffing creeps out in the most unexpected places. Together these images form a topology of strange yet oddly familiar creatures. They are at once hideous yet cuddly, disturbing yet endearing, absurd yet adorable, while offering a metaphor for us all to consider. These bears, which have lived and loved and lost as much as their owners, have suffered and endured through it all. It is by virtue of revealing their inner core might we better understand our own.

About this title

About the Author:

Kent Rogowski received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, where he is now a critic. He also teaches photography at The Pratt Institute. His first monograph, Bears, was published by powerHouse books in 2007. He has had solo shows in New York at both the Foley Gallery and the Jen Bekman Gallery. His first European solo show opened at the In Focus Gallery in Cologne, Germany in 2009.

Review:

"Delightfully absurd..."-Steven Heller, The New York Times

If Hannibal Lecter, Martin Margiela and a blind speed freak had a three-way in a Build-A-Bear workshop, these creatures would be their mutant offspring.-Sarah Verdone, Paper Magazine

"Though the subjects of these portraits...aren't human, they seem to exude as much personality and feeling as any living, breathing thing."Jen Trolio, Readymade Magazine

Rife with nostalgia and allusions to consumerism, childhood and sentimentality, among other heady topics, Bears... becomes a meditation on its subject.-Ami Kealoha, Cool Hunting

"Part scientist, part sorcerer, Rogowski re-animates the bears as haunting reminders of childhood's complexities."-Blyth Sheldon, V Magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: powerHouse Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1576873730
• ISBN 13: 9781576873731
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 72