Kent Rogowski

Colorful, Whimsical Puzzle Collages

We’ve seen what artist Kent Rogowski can do with stuffed animals, but judging by his other body of work, Love = Love — which we first spotted on Beautiful/Decay — his wizardry also extends to puzzles. Rogowski’s colorful collages — composed of the flowers and skies from over 60 store-bought puzzles — form whimsical landscapes. None of the fragmented, cardboard pieces have been forced to fit together. Apparently they’re interchangeable within a brand, allowing Rogowski options to mix and match. People often think of puzzle pieces as totally unique and intricately cut, which is part of what makes Rogowski’s work so interesting. Despite using these fairly generic, factory-made materials, the results are still beautiful. The artist shared a little bit about his process with us: “There were a few [puzzles] that sat around my studio for a year half finished until the manufacturer released some new puzzles with flowers in them. The most difficult part of the project was keeping track of all the puzzle pieces. At one point there was around 20,000 puzzle pieces floating around my studio.” Take a closer look in our gallery. … Read More

Pic of the Day: Teddy Bear Picnic

Photographer Kent Rogowski explores the inner psychology of stuffed animals by shooting plush teddy bears turned inside out and restuffed. As “their fasteners become eyes, their seams become scars, and their stuffing creeps out in the most unexpected places,” the creatures exhibit an inner core that’s at once hideous and fascinating, and still — oddly — cute. Click through for more reversible teddy bears and find out how you can score a heftily-discounted print through 2 p.m. today. … Read More