Ed Rogers came to public attention through David Greenberger's Duplex Planet magazine. Ed moved into the Duplex Nursing Home in Boston in 1981. Conversations and interviews with Ed appeared regularly in The Duplex Planet, which started in 1979 as a periodical, subsequently collected into books, adapted into a comic book series and staged monologues. Approximately 150 of Ed's drawings have been shown in an exhibition titled "An Exact Spectacular" at several museums and universities since 1994. Ed's work was featured in the packaging of R.E.M.'s Out Of Time CD. He appeared in the Duplex Planet documentaries "Your Own True Self" and "Lighthearted Nation."
Ed lived his life pretty much hidden from view. Born in 1925, he was institutionalized some time in his twenties and then lived in nursing homes from his late forties until his death in 2002. He conducted his life at a remarkably slow pace but if you slowed down too, you would find he had an endearing purity and simplicity.
Like most of us, Ed perceived drawing and writing and different tasks. His writing has a deep right slant and large loops with a clearly tentative hand. When asked to draw, Ed would most often work on the lettering seen is this font. He also drew a sort of teddy bear of other gentle animal shaped characters. His pencil, pen or crayon would touch the surface of the paper many times before a line might be drawn. And then several lines might be repeated as he worked through whatever mental process was underway. Sometimes he stopped with a clearly depicted character or word, other times the muse in his hand continued to mark the page until the images were all but obscured. And sometimes the finished product would be a dynamic mass of line work, eradicating the white space. He would, if requested, create a specific drawing, as he did for R.E.M. and other artists.
Like most of us, Ed perceived drawing and writing and different tasks. His writing has a deep right slant and large loops with a clearly tentative hand. When asked to draw, Ed would most often work on the lettering seen is this font. He also drew a sort of teddy bear of other gentle animal shaped characters. His pencil, pen or crayon would touch the surface of the paper many times before a line might be drawn. And then several lines might be repeated as he worked through whatever mental process was underway. Sometimes he stopped with a clearly depicted character or word, other times the muse in his hand continued to mark the page until the images were all but obscured. And sometimes the finished product would be a dynamic mass of line work, eradicating the white space. He would, if requested, create a specific drawing, as he did for R.E.M. and other artists.
Images of Ed Rogers and his artwork courtesy of David Greenberger
The P22 Ed Rogers font was created in 2002 as an attempt to capture the vibrant,honest and unconventional child-like approach seen in the many drawings of Ed Rogers.
The P22 Ed Rogers font set features 3 fonts based on Ed's idiosyncratic style of lettering and drawing. Each lettering font features a full ASCII character set in Opentype format.
The Ed Rogers font has been used for years on the "Funny or Die" Logo
P22 Ed Rogers fonts are also used on CDs by the band "Maragaret Explosion"
