Rogan Gregory is inviting you into his bedroom. Well, his staged bedroom. The artist, designer, and sculptor’s latest exhibition at New York’s R & Company in Lower Manhattan comprises an inviting boudoir and a plush living room. The show's title, “Elysian Dream,” comes from the Greek idea of a blessed afterlife—a fitting designation for the inviting, soft, surreal collection of furniture on display.
Last Friday evening, guests—including CULTURED Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson, writer Christina Grasso, stylist Kate Young, architect Kulapat Yantrasast, and gallery owners Zesty Meyers and Evan Snyderman—gathered in the downtown space to toast to the gallery’s slate of spring openings, including Gregory’s immersive, fully designed spaces.
In the living room, everything from the couch to the rug to the ottoman is coated in a long, tan fur, creating a vibe more akin to a cocoon than a formal sitting area. Offering a note of contrast, a silver coffee table in the middle of the space resembles a vial of mercury splashed across the floor.
Guests filtered in and out of the bedroom: a darker, more intimate version of the bright and airy living room. Inside, the fur motif mixes with brown satin sheets—the artist’s first presentation of textiles—and a collection of amorphous black lighting and seating.
This is Gregory’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery, which has been a throughline for the artist since he transitioned from a career in fashion to the arts, staging his first show with R & Company in 2016. Back in 2022, the designer explained to CULTURED that the shift was sparked by his desire to work on one-of-one pieces derived from the aesthetics of the natural world.
“I was at a point in my life where it was a risk to change careers completely, and I have to say there was not one person—including my wife—that thought it was a good idea,” he said. “People refer to me sometimes as an artist, sometimes as a designer—I live in the luxury of a nebulous purgatory.”
