About the Book:
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.
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“130+ years after Thomas Eakins portrayed a group of bloody surgeons removing a tumor from a patient’s thigh in The Gross Clinic (oil on canvas), Kent Rogowski turns our emblems of childhood comfort inside out. One of Eakins’ most famous and successful paintings, The Gross Clinic was rejected by the jury of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition as ‘unsightly’ and eventually sold to a medical school for the paltry sum of $200. Perhaps Mr. Rogowski should sell his pictures to a day care center.” —Alec Soth
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About the Author:
Kent Rogowski received his MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2000. He has received numerous awards including the Center Award from the Center of Photographic Art, and was selected as finalist for the Calumet/Friends of Photography Emerging Artist Award and the Nerve.com Emerging Artist Award. Rogowski also produced a feature length documentary film on drug trafficking and immigration called Al Otro Lado. It premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival in 2005 and made it’s theatrical premier at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 2006. It was also broadcast nationwide on PBS’s P.O.V. in 2006. Rogowski currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
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A Word from Kent Rogowski:
“Sara Rosen was amazing to work with as a publisher and editor. Her enthusiasm and support was instrumental in making my book a reality. It really would not have happened without her support. Throughout the process, she was able to identify simple ways to make the book much more dynamic and compelling. I look forward to working with her again in the future!”
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Miss Rosen’s Contribution:
Art Direction, Photo Editing & Sequencing, Copyediting, Production Management, Publicity, and Advertising.
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Coordinated international publicity campaign including coverage in
Cool Hunting, Esquire Russia, i-D Magazine, The New York Times Book Review,
ReadyMade, Paper, Photo District News, V Magazine, and Wonderland, among others.
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PHOTOGRAPHY | STUFFED ANIMALS | AWWWWWW…
HC, 8.25 x 10.25, 72 pages, 80 four-color photographs
ISBN: 978-1-57687-373-1, $24.95
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Photographs ©Kent Rogowski
Cover courtesy of powerHouse Books