Three years ago, Jay Langley was sitting in his living room one night when his daughter walked in. Her brother had been teasing her, taking her stuffed animals and torturing them, much like little boys typically do at that age. Knowing that his son wouldn’t be deterred by traditional discipline, Langley wanted to try something a little different. If his son wouldn’t stop taking his daughter’s fluffy toys, then he needed to make them slightly less friendly.
The Scarebears were born.
Over the last three years, Langley has created over two hundred evil stuffed bears. Because of the build methods he uses, which consist of found objects, unique “faces”, and hand-crafted wounds, no two bears are alike. He’s mostly worked with teddy bears, superimposing the horrific bodily trauma on the softest, fluffiest forms he can find. It’s a striking contrast, even though it’s probably terrifying for children to look at.
The cylinders that the bears are stored in look like glass jars just begging to be filled with formaldehyde, and the stacked arrangement that Langley had on display at this weekend’s Detroit Fanfare reminded me of scenes from a horror movie.
It’s a bizarre creation, that somehow manages to work. They’re not much heavier than the teddy bears they’re created from, and the “blood” and guts are dry enough to handle without rubbing off. I don’t know why I liked looking at them as much as I did, especially the bunny-based creations. They were morbid, sure, but might look pretty neat on a shelf in the back of my office. Especially during late-night podcasts.
Scarebears can be found at their website. Full gallery below.
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