Mark Jenkins - “Let no man scare you”
Mark Jenkins, who some might called a “3D Street Artist” has been making waves in the art world, or at least the street art world. The title of this post was inspired by a Morning News interview with the artist, and I feel it is very fitting for his work.
While he has many different series’ described in his Wikipedia overview, I want to focus on the outdoor public works called “Embeds”, which consist of life-size sculptures made out of tape. They are often molded from the shape of his own body, and are adorned with clothing to make them resemble people. The faces are usually covered in some way. The result are humanoid simulacrum that are disturbing because of their uncanny familiarity. All images and videos below are taken from his official site, unless otherwise specified.
Embed 4
Embedded (video)
All you can Eat (video)
Locker Jam
I would call him an interventionist sculptor, a creator of new genre public art that engages the publics it is situated in. This work depends on passersby for its ’shock’ value or for its meaning, which is why it’s appropriate that on his site he includes many photographs with people responding to the work - as well as videos which are integral to showing the reactions of people. It gives you the closest sensation to being there, and allows you to see the real power of the work which is the effect it has on others - the laughter, the fear, the worrying, the inevitable disruption it causes. With this kind of work I’m most interested in how it made people feel. I would love to have interviewed the people in his videos to find out what their interpretations were. In the Morning News interview, Jenkins explained:
People are generally curious. Kids, adults, and a police officer have approached with the question “What is that?” Then that’s usually followed by “How many rolls of tape did it take?”
I think people understand the kind of obsessive fiddling involved in making a whole sculpture out of tape. Haven’t you ever seen people play around with making balls out of elastic bands or tape? The medium is somehow familiar and playful - immediately accessible and ‘transparent’ (heh heh) in process. I think people can find this more entertaining and fun - but when the tape is covered up by humanistic clothing and made to come across as a person, is where it veers into disturbing territory. Personally, I find these works sometimes a little too dark and macabre for my taste. What is the real purpose behind these interventions? According to Jenkins, he feels the city of Washington is somehow dead, and sterile. Mark Schiller from Wooster Collective is a fan, explaining: “Mark’s stuff pulls you out of that zombielike experience that all of us have in the cities.” So Jenkins’ sculptures are meant to wake up, invigorate, surprise, disturb, etc.?
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