Love: Inside and Out

With equally disturbing and hilarious affect, artist Kent Rogowski turns ordinary teddy bears inside out and then restuffs them.

   

The vulnerable and apologetic rejects that result are probably the best critique of romanticized nostalgia yet. The truth of our cuddling affections is marked by scared stitches, percolated stuffing and dangling appendages, all of which expose an indifferent process of mechanized production. Love for sale.

Some of the bears appear to be attached to exotic life support systems as if they've gone full circle in their life cycle: loved, abused, disused, then forgotten. The squeeze box that once elicited giggles now takes on the appearance of a ventilator as the patient attached gasps for one last squeeze by someone who cares.



The never-meant-to-be-seen side of the teddy ultimately reflects the uncomfortable question of objectified love back at the consumer.



February 5th, 2008 / 1 Comment / Tags: teddy bear, nostalgia, toys, love, aesthetics, artists