I came across Matt Rainwaters photography on the Subtext website. I love his portraiture. Especially the way he couples it with a one sentence fact or little tidbit about the person he photographed. I skimmed through these on my lunch break and I feel like I went on a fabulous journey. Love it. Beautiful work Rainwaters! See more on his website.
I stumbled upon this artist named Kent Rogowski and his “Bears” project. I have had his tab up in my firefox all week and haven’t been able to close the window. I find his creations haunting, charming, adorable and disturbing rolled into a ball unusual and familiar at the same time. Terrifying, strange and delightfully absurd have been some reviews describing Rogowski’s work.
These little creatures are so oddly cute and cuddly. I would love to have a print in the office or my apartment. I wonder what people think when they see Kent’s work. At first I was like WTF? and after looking at each image I started making up my own stories about each character in his collection. His scope for the project is quite good and worth a read:
“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 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.”
Buy his book on amazon.
