Kent Rogowski’s works are often provocative and whimsical manipulations of objects and images that surround us in our daily lives. From teddy bears to jigsaw puzzles and self help books, he uses and alters mass-produced consumer products as a vehicle for self expression. By transforming the generic into something personal, Rogowski questions what these products communicate, and also what role they play in our culture.
Kent Rogowski is an artist/photographer living and working in Brooklyn, NY. In 2000, Rogowski received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, where he is now a Critic. He has also taught at The Pratt Institute and The School of Visual Arts in New York. 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.
Bears, 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 typology 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.
Exhibition Prints: 16×20″ and 48×60″ C-Prints
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Exhibition Prints: 16×20″ and 48×60″ C-Prints
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