Mark Jenkins (born October 7, 1970) is an American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

who makes sculptural street installations. Jenkins' practice of

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant gr ...

is to use the "street as a stage" where his sculptures interact with the surrounding environment including passersby who unknowingly become actors. His installations often draw the attention of the police. His work has been described as whimsical, macabre, shocking and situationist. Jenkins cites Juan Muñoz as his initial inspiration. In addition to creating art, he also teaches his sculpture techniques and installation practices through workshops. He currently lives in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Life and career

Jenkins was born in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

, but first began experimenting with tape as a casting medium for creating sculpture in 2003 while living in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. Wrapping the tape in reverse and then resealing it, he was able to make casts of objects including himself. One of his first street projects was a series of clear tape self casts that he installed on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Jenkins became immediately interested in the reactions of the people and considered his installation as much a social experiment as an art project.

In 2004 he moved back to Washington DC and in 2005 he began working with Sandra Fernandez on the ''Storker Project'', a series in which clear casts of toy babies are installed in different cities to interact with their surrounding environment. Jenkins and Fernandez continued to create other installations using tape animals--dogs playing in litter, giraffes nibbling plastic bags from trees, and ducks swimming in gutters. Other outdoor projects which explore

culture jamming Culture jamming (sometimes also guerrilla communication) is a form of protest used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. It at ...

include ''Meterpops'', ''Traffic-Go-Round'', and ''Signs of Spring''. In 2006 Jenkins began the ''Embed Series.'' The tape casts were filled with newspaper and cement and dressed to create hyper realistic sculptural duplicates of himself and Fernandez. These new lifelike sculpture installations created confusion causing some passers-by to make calls to 911 which caused police and sometimes rescue units to arrive on his "stage".

In 2008 Jenkins collaborated with

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

on an awareness campaign, ''Plight of the Polar Bears'', to draw attention to the melting Arctic ice caps. Jenkins created realistic figures appearing to be homeless people but with plush polar bear heads. The installations resulted in bomb squads being deployed to destroy the works subsequently creating controversy over the regulation of public space in the post 9/11 era. Jenkins has participated in public art events ''Interferencia'' (Barcelona, 2008), ''BELEF'' (Belgrade, 2009), '' Dublin Contemporary 2011'', ''Inside Out'' ( Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, 2009), ''Living Layers'' (Rome, 2012), ''Les Vraisemblables'' (''

Nuit Blanche Nuit Blanche () (White Night) is an annual all-night or night-time arts festival of a city. A Nuit Blanche typically has museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the ...

'', Paris, 2014), ''Passages Insolites'' (Ex Muro, Quebec City 2021) ''Embed Bodies'' (Un Été au Havre, Le Havre, 2022). Indoors Jenkins has exhibited internationally in galleries and museums, and he continues his ''Embed Series'' in public settings such as cafeterias, schools and building lobbies. Solo shows include ''Glazed Paradise'' at Diesel Gallery (Tokyo, 2008), ''Meaning is Overrated'' at Carmichael Gallery (Los Angeles, 2009), ''Terrible Horrible'' at Ruttkowski;68 Gallery (Cologne, 2014), ''Moment of Impact'' at Lazarides Gallery (London, 2015), and ''Remix'' at L'Arsenal (Montreal, 2016). In 2018, he and Fernandez created ''

Project84 Project84 was an art installation comprising life-size statues of 84 men on top of the ITV (TV network), ITV buildings at South Bank, Southbank in London, England. It aimed to highlight the fact that, in the United Kingdom, an average 84 men die ...

'', in London, England. The work was designed to raise awareness of adult male suicide. Commercially, Jenkins collaborated with the fashion brand

Balenciaga Balenciaga SA ( , , ) is a Spanish Basque luxury fashion house currently headquartered in Paris. It designs, manufactures and markets ready-to-wear footwear, handbags, and accessories, and licenses its name and branding to the American cosmeti ...

at stores including Colette and

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...

. In November 2022, Jenkins was commissioned by Steve Lazarides to make a replica of his sister Kristina passed out in a bowl of soup for his gallery, which subsequently resulted in police breaking down the gallery doors in a rescue attempt

Publications

Publication by Jenkins

* ''The Urban Theater: Mark Jenkins '' (2012)

Publications with contributions by Jenkins

* ''Hidden Track: How Visual Culture Is Going Places '' (2007) * ''Tactile: High Touch Visuals'' (2007) * ''Street World: Urban Art and Culture from Five Continents '' (2007) * ''Outsiders: Art by People '' (2008) * ''Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution '' (2008) * ''Untitled II. The Beautiful Renaissance: Street Art and Graffiti '' (2009) * ''Modart No. 01: Forget Art: In Order to Feel It '' (2010) * ''Urban Interventions: Personal Projects in Public Places '' (2010) * ''Beyond the Street: The 100 Leading Figures in Urban Art '' (2010) * ''The Art of Rebellion #3'' (2010) * ''Street Art Cookbook: A Guide to Techniques and Materials'' (2011) * ''Art & Agenda: Political Art and Activism'' (2011) * ''Walls & Frames: Fine Art from the Streets'' (2011) * ''Trespass: A History Of Uncommissioned Urban Art'' (2011)

Life and career

Publications

Publication by Jenkins

Publications with contributions by Jenkins

References

External links