The multi-faceted practice of American artist and poet Bunny Rogers draws upon a highly personal constellation of television shows, movies, Internet forums, and everyday objects to reflect upon how we connect with one another and build community across physical and digital spaces. Working across media, she creates works that materialize her own inner universe and use the hermetic logic of these associations to emotionally connect with the viewer.
Rogers’ first forays into artmaking can be traced to her nascent experiments on the website Neopets.com: an immersive online universe popular in the early aughts in which children created and tended to virtual pets. For Rogers, spending time on the internet as a child was equated with a freedom from isolation and her work thereby evinces an enchantment with online expressions of community. “My Neopets were real to me,” Rogers explains,
“I wished that I could visit Neopia and didn’t understand why I couldn’t.”
The all-consuming structure of neopets.com—with its branded games that allowed players to win neopoints, the virtual currency needed to navigate the land of Neopia and provide for their NeoPets—fascinated Rogers with its conflation of consumption, fantasy, and care. Rogers describes the process of logging into Neopets after school as “coming alive again.” The connection she felt with the game and its players alleviated the feelings of isolation and loneliness experienced away from the keyboard. “The participation in an online world made me aware of a bigger community,” Rogers says, “and (it) gave me hope that what I was doing wouldn’t always go unnoticed.”
Rogers has made a number of sculptural works inspired by the Neopets, which have become one of the most emblematic references in her artistic practice. Although previous works in this series were more modestly scaled, Rogers has recently begun to conceive of these works on a grand scale for public space. She created a towering Neopet (Shoyru) sculpture for the most recent edition of Art Basel Parcours in September. Enlarged to over three meters, these virtual creatures who left such an indelible mark on Rogers’ consciousness now assume an outsized physical form to meet us away from the keyboard. Her Neopets all have different moods and characteristics. Rogers’ conceptual engagement with bridging private, inner-worlds with moments of collectivity By situating one of Rogers’ Neopet sculptures in the public, common space visitors tap into an intimate space of memory, fantasy, and identity. The Neopets conceptually emphasize community, collaboration, cooperation, and the power of inventiveness and innovation. Such qualities not only drive successful organizations and teams, but also are the foundations of living together as a community and making positive change in the world.
Bunny Rogers, Neopets will be on display on Kildare Street, Dublin from 05.10 - 06.11 2022
