"I think these photographs might mean happiness. They are made by softness and cotton."
-Nicholas, 3th grade student, PS84 New York

"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, 36, photographer

"If I were a stuffed bear that got turned inside out, I would want my ears too. What are we to make of this pack (?) of bears living in a seamless silence? Each member of this strange mute toyscape is odd and mysterious and seems terribly vulnerable."
-WM Hunt, Art dealer, ageless

"soft and fierce"
-Calvin Tsao, Architect

"Each of these pieces speaks of another place in the psyche... I wonder how much these pieces have been transformed by the person they stayed with."
-Roger Ballen, photographer

"You're a monster. Maybe you should be turned out..."
--Anonymous

Everyone is so articulate in their commentary, but these bears leave me tongue-tied (shocking if you know me), only able to utter a single syllable: AWWWWWWWW.
-Miss Rosen, Publisher

"The most intriguing thing about Kent Rogowski's "BEARS" photographs is the ambiguity of their meaning. Mr. Rogowski has given his viewers bits of information behind the work, but never tells what the photographs mean to him or what they should ultimately mean to viewers. In a time where everything in American culture seems to originate from one of three or four market-tested formulas, it is refreshing to have an artist present work that engages my imagination while viewing it as much as it seems to have engaged his while making it."
-Brian Jerkins, Artist, Brighton, Massachusetts

"my very first boyfriend, rocky, had given me this huge stuffed dog when i was seventeen. after thirteen years, i just wasn't sure if it was a meaningful keepsake - a potential heirloom to be passed down - or simply taking space like a bookmark, or a ruin. it had been shuffled around, stuffed under my bed, propped on my shelf, used as a pillow.. i finally ended up throwing the dog away last month. now i think i made a mistake."
-Yamini Nayar, Artist

"Having just attended the passing of my seventh parent/parent-in-law at the age of 93, these perverse plushies evoke for me the liminal creepiness of advanced senescence. Mocking their infantile origins as our mass-produced cuddly friends, they are transformed into individuated mutants sporting a panoply of weird prosthetic attachments: tubes and bulbs, erect nipple eyes, gags of fibrous synthetic fill, IV port-like protuberances and vivisected body parts stitched together by Dr. FrankensteinÕs tailor. Plunked down, Avedon-like, before a blank white screen, they pose for their Freudian close-ups: latent Ids within each beckoning baby, reaching out for love."
-Deborah Bright, somewhere on the far side of 50, Artist and Writer

"What kind of inhuman, paranoid, and selfish human being would do such a cruel thing to these once soft to the touch creatures? These "teddy bears" or at least that's what they were, look like nothing I have ever seen. And yet, as all the horror and disbelief fade by, you see the true meaning behind this scheme. These things look more adorable then before. But if you look at the last one, you think to yourslef, wow this bear has gone through a 360 life change, literally, and yet he still has a smile on. Now that's what you call a man's best friend."
-Matthew Stefanski, 14, Student at Bayonne High School, Bayonne, NJ

"If a stuffed bear had the self-discipline to plug its own finger into an electrical outlet, this is what I imagine might be the result. Of course, I could also say that, metaphorically, maybe itÕs all of us who are inside-out and stuffed, and we spend our lives trying to plug up the holes and push the deviant shit back inside. Then again, if I said that, IÕd sound far too much like a Republican."
-Adam Hauck, 34, Documentary Filmmaker

"So alive these bears are, that one can be forgiven for transposing the will of the artist to the stuffed toy. The bears present themselves, seemingly unencumbered by vanity Ð their construction history and pattern making laid bare, if youÕll forgive the pun. But it is a zero sum game Ð as we gaze upon the safety washers that keep their eyes from becoming a childÕs choke hazard, we are denied a glimpse of their manufactured faces. But who cares? Scouring the blueprint is much more enlightening than glancing at the façade."
-Matthew Brady, 35, Designer

"Teddy bears, or stuffed animals in general, were probably the starting point in my problem of ascribing human feelings to inanimate objects. This is a problem, especially since one of my other problems is extreme empathy. Seeing these little guys inside out, in all of their fragile, pathetic, loved or neglected, heroic glory makes it positively impossible not to personify them and therefore empathize with them. Then the natural extension is to imagine (and therefore empathize with) the child who was partner to each inside-out bear during the right-side-out years. Of course this magnifies and exacerbates my problem because it translates out to all other inanimate objects and their human counterparts. Now I must weep for all the lonely and/or neglected people, chairs, cars, books, buildings, carrots and telephones. Please don't turn a telephone inside out, I can't take it."
-Amy Devers, Designer

"IÕm torn. I see these creatures as frightening and lovable at the same time. They remind me of this dog I had growing up. He would systematically dismantle stuffed toys and rip out the squeaker. He and Kent wouldÕve made a great team, except...Mocha couldnÕt sew. Crazy dog."
-Nathan Haun, 25, Producer

"In this Richard Avedon-style portrait, Rogowski strikes a serious note in his abject depiction of that venerable icon of childhood comfort, the teddy bear. Torn Teddy has been turned inside-out and marooned on a snowdrift of white seamless - alone, exposed, and vulnerable. Pangs of longing and unfulfilled desire percolate beneath the surface of the image, as if he is struggling to say something authentic through the mass-produced sentiment of popular culture."
-Cynthia Farnell, Artist/Writer

"Not unlike their human counterparts, the bears may seem to be well "put together" on the outside, but it seems a far more interesting story presented from the internal perspective. Actually, in many cases, they are even more charming and fascinating here. The well groomed exterior may normally belie the complicated internal constructive process and obfuscate an important part of the bearÕs totality, therefore itÕs easy to forget or dismiss all the hidden intricacies. After so much comfortable normalization, I think that we could all use a good skin-flip."
-Aaron Mancini

"When you see something from the inside out, it engenders a deeper level of sympathy and understanding--the proverbial "walk in another manÕs shoes." Everything in life should occasionally be turned inside out--experiences, routines, relationships, objects--to better examine their unconsidered value (or lack thereof)."
-Brent Stickels, 36, designer

"All kinds of ursinities here, as in a lineup for tots, but look carefully, and though only stuffed cloth, personalities emerge. In attitude they are plopped, striding, arm-waving, slumped, crouching, etc.; in expression they are curious, pleading, apprehensive, angry, vulnerable, studious, etc.; in appearance they are quadriplegic, thread-trailing, benippled, koala-eyed, turtleish, etc.; in color, a wide spectrumÑa quilt-makerÕs rummage-sale paradise. ItÕs a real opportunity for bigots to workshop their prejudices, or for designers to refine their sensibilities. As for me, I discovered the unbearable lightness of being."
-Jim Devers, 75, Retired lit prof

"Lyrical, lascivious, not exactly lovely, these bears have been through something bad.

And yet that is what makes them more lovable than normal stuffed animals. The animals are like sculptures in photos, we take them in and get involved with them and forget they are indeed, posed, lit and photographed. And this is part of the brilliance of these bear portraits. They have been through the mill they have been through hell or heaven or a bit of both, and that is what makes them strangely...human."
-Daniel A. Schwartz, Television Producer/ Painter

"Kent Rogowski's bears in their tailored tattered edges are a raw reassembly, creating a kind of whimsical salvation to the torn and broken defenseless bear. But each bear's personality is tenderly depicted through each loving stitch, with clear technique of a wonderfully clumsy intent. A perfectly cuddle-able inside out, exposed, explored and adored."
-Jami Primmer, architect PSYMPTOM

"A headless teddy bear always makes me smile."
-Greg

"Why do I like the bears without arms?"
-Natalia Almada, 32, filmmaker

"When I first read the description of the pictures I thought I would be looking at sad, almost twisted pictures of once cute teddy bears. But when you start looking at them you feel like you want to take them and give them a good home. Somehow the bears still look cute and cuddly, I wish we looked that way on the inside!"
-Rachel Ryan, 26, First Grade Teacher

"I have watched Kent through the eyes of a father watching his son grow and develop his own views of all that he sees. While I am not sure which side of the family that Kent has gotten his artistic thirst from, it is clear that he has developed an artistÕs insight, vision and sensitivity. Of all of his creations, KentÕs Bears are the best example of his ability to view life from both sides of the mirror and see something worth looking at."
-Kenneth A. Rogowski, artists father

"Very sad.Ê Almost tragic.Ê These bears seem to have been abused, and maybe they've suffered."
-Neil Godfrey

"Porridge vent tostito

Banishment for taste
Owl of crapper
Just in case

Penitentiary money
sphincter softened
In "dem" we pollute
Veils of huggies"
-Tim Davis, Photographer

"these teddies appear psychologically unsound. they 're not cuddly by any means, as a matter fact i dont think i would want to run into one of these ruffians in a dark alley without a sharp stitch remover."
-Chris Hund, 20, College Student

"I think this one is funny because in a book that I read there was a monster that looked just like this one."
-Maya Lee Christianson, 7

"The painstaking efforts of taxidermy in reverseÉThe trickery of cosmetic alteration exposedÉ The mechanics of mortuary science beautifully revealed... This corps of little misfits exhibits the triumph of artifice over "Nature" and the conflation of our desires with our anxieties about those desires. We giggle and feel unease about our giggles. We look more closely and feel discomfort with our findings. We want to reach out hold themÉwith latex gloves. Me? I just want to crawl inside these sinister and cuddly little monsters to feel the inside of our outsides and exhibit the pleasures of our own remaking."
-John Comazzi, Assistant Professor of Architecture, University of Minnesota

"There is no better way to give the nod to childhood than to tear out your guts, turn them inside round, and then stitch them back up with a heartfelt bow to panache. I have children now, they eviscerate me like this daily. If I am as mutely cute when they are done with their reconstitutions, if I have any taint of the dumbstruck adorability of Kent's wee monsters, then I am as lucky as God, or Frankenstein's man."
-Meeno Peluce, Photographer

"It's amazing how you caught your aunt's many moods. Most look how I feel when I get up in the morning. Some look how I feel going to bed at night. A few how I feel after too many smooth bourbons poured over crushed ice, or that one too many glasses of chardonnay. And, a couple look like I feel after dealing with people at the supermarket or in a crowded shopping mall. But, there's only one, that looks how my soul aches for my own lost teddy bear."
-Mirium Hoffberg

"What did these poor little creatures do to deserve this horrific vivisection! Dr. Moreau, you should be ashamed of yourself!"
-Millee Tibbs

"TheyÕre like the dark shadowy sides of ourselves we try so hard to hide and deny. ItÕs somehow comforting to know that even teddy bears have these sides."
-Nicole Cattell, filmmaker

"Warn your children and neighbors... Someday, all your dirty little secrets will come to light. You better get off your asses and paint both sides of the drywall, or you're going to be exposed as the fraud you really are. You'd better organize those all those cords behind your TV. When we all tire of catalog couture, we're going to start turning things around, exposing the warts, and burning the Mies sofas. We'll hug Kent's creations and beg forgiveness for the world we created."
-Ron Fleming

"Bear, where's your sole?"
-Tamara Warren

"Flash Flood

Rain riddled the dry earth that morning like children on a trampoline. Falling too fast to penetrate the limestone, it rolled off the land collecting in roadways and ravines that had been barren all summer.

It was too much, too soon, too fast. Even if it was needed, it came too hard to bear.

Almost as a sign that summerÕs hot grip is slipping, rivers appear out of nowhere under gray and noisy skies Ripping though towns, rural valleys, cities, washing away the debris of a long dry spell and sometimes people too brave to question if they can make it across.

But

as quickly as they came, they disappear into the lakes and creeks leaving us to wonder if it really happened at all.

And then

Caught on the TV news-our version of nursery rhymes-mud-coated and torn at the seams,a single stuffed bear hangs from a broken tree branch."
-Anna Lamb

"A long time ago, there was an invisible line that divided Europe into two territories, a fine line called the teddy bear equator. North of the equator teddy bears were beautiful, soft and cute, whereas south of it you would only find ugly monsters made out of bright colored acrylic fabric. Generations of historians have been working on this inexplicable phenomenon. I grew up in the Southern teddy hemisphere but was educated in a school attended predominantly by Northern teddy hemisphere children. Over many years I was extremely jealous of the teddy bears of my class mates. But it was not until many years later, when I moved to the US, that I could work on my teddy-trauma: Preparing myself for the harsh winters of New England, I found a coat, model "teddy", made of the plush fabric of (Northern hemisphere) teddy bears. It kept me warm for several years and it transported me into a very safe and comforting place. It had a sad end as I lost it one night at a Mac Donald's on the highway, but my therapist considered this a positive healing symptom of my teddy disease. I wonder who might be using that coat now, and if that lucky person might be wearing it inside out."
-Yolanda Del Amo, Photographer

"These bears look like they evolved in parallel to ordinary teddy bears. It's as if a cultural anthropologist wandered deep into the Amazon basin and found a civilization that had no contact with the modern world: These are their toys. The bears look recognizable and familiar in form, but they seem to come from a completely different emotional planet."
-Zachary Treuhaft

"...dwelling from steiff-land, i just say: GREAT!"
-Simon Becker, German

"I enjoy how these ugly, pathetic bears become objects of beauty and desire that I want to touch and hold. The show is made more effective in that it is made only of photographs instead of the actual objects. For me the exhibit is about the elusive, vulnerably mangled part of ourselves that we can barely see or touch and will rarely show, but which is nevertheless, the most desirable, beautiful and even seductive part."
-Jonathan Brennan, 22, student