Mark Jenkins Brought Sculpture To Street Art

Mark Jenkins is redefining sculpture as part of the urban environment. The Urban Theater (Gestalten, ISBN 978-3-89955-396-3, €35), his first monograph, documents Jenkins’s compelling, often disturbing street installations and demonstrates his talent for provoking reactions from passersby. For Jenkins, these spontaneous responses and interactions are an integral part of the life cycle of his works. Jenkins uses ordinary packing tape to create life-size human or animal forms. Jenkins is best known for his clever installations of these startlingly lifelike tape sculptures in urban and natural spaces as well as indoor environments such as cafeterias, toilets, and art galleries.

Mark Jenkins, born in 1970, lives and works in Washington, DC. Although select work by the artist has been shown in renowned group exhibitions, including at the Moscow Biennial (2009) or Kunsthalle Wien (2010), and recently graced the stage of Berlin’s Hebbel am Ufer HAUEINS theater, Jenkins’s art is primarily made for the street. For Jenkins, the interaction between his sculptures, their urban environments, and the people within them are an integral part of the lifecycle of his work and are needed to make it complete. ❚