Written By: Team Editor Conner Lopez
Revised October 1st, 2010
I can't claim credit for discovering artist Luke Chueh on my own. Someone very close to me, gets that honor. What I can say with zero doubt, is that it is a good thing for me that I found him one way or another because for a minute there, as Thom Yorke says, I lost myself. What is it about Luke Chuehs tragically cute, sad little bears with existential crises that is so gut wrenching and so impact full? What is it about them that immediately makes you feel like crying? CONED by Luke Chueh

For me its two things.
One: we can all relate.

We have all had times when we felt like we have been disintegrating, our very selves disappearing into thin air. A decision we've made, a failure we've had. Our identities so confused that we question everything have ever known about our own existance.

The bears and other art of Luke Chueh don't just have mystique, they ARE mystique. They forcefully evoke emotion. No one can look at these works of art and not feel... something.

Mystique sometimes exists before you even know you are seeing it, like the first time you watch Fight Club. You may not know what you are looking at, but you know its something special, meaningful, important.

What are exactly are we looking at? I have my explanations, as im sure the artist has his. What I do know is that its mysterious, open to interpretation, and powerful.

What is the conversation? Who are the conversationalists? And does the conversation even matter, or is the piece about something much more important? My own interpretation, very specifically, is that it is about something much more ominious....