Mark Jenkins (b. 1970 in Fairfax, Virginia ) is an American artist most widely known for the street installations he creates using box sealing tape. In addition to creating art, he also teaches his sculpture techniques through workshops in cities he visits. He
currently lives in Washington, DC.
Jenkins uses packing tape to create his base forms using a casting process in which the object is first encased in plastic wrap and then in tape. Jenkins teaches the casting
technique on his website.
Jenkins’ practice of street art is to use the “street as a stage” where passersby become actors. Many of his installation shave resulted in intervention by the authorities whom he also regards as actors. Most of his early outdoor works were non-commissioned.
Jenkins said the following about the illegal aspects of street art during an interview with art critic Brian Sherwin, “There is opposition, and risk, but I think that just shows that street art is the sort of frontier where the leading edge really does have to chew through the ice. And it’s good for people to remember public space is a battleground, with the government, advertisers and artists all mixing and mashing, and even now the strange cross-pollination taking place as street artists sometimes become brands, and brands
camouflaging as street art creating complex hybrids or impersonators. I think it’s understanding the strangeness of the playing field where you’ll realize that painting street artists, writers, as the bad guys is a shallow view. As for the old bronzes, I really don’t see them as part of what’s going on in the dialogue unless addressed by a new
intervention. “
Jenkins’ first street project was a series of clear tape casts made from his body that he installed on the streets in Rio de Janeiro (2003). This was followed by the Storker Project (2005) where tape “babies” were “dropped” in different cities around the globe. In 2006 Jenkins began dressing his self casts to create hyper realistic sculptures. (Embed Series).
Other outdoor projects include Meterpops (2005), Traffic-Go-Round (2007), and Flowersigns (2007).
He has collaborated with Graffiti Research Lab and Greenpeace . In 2010 he curated Les Grandes Traversees public design festival in Bordeaux, France which showcased 15 artists including Evan Roth, Theo Watson and Aakash Nilhalani.
Indoors he has shown at galleries and museums as well as unconventional settings including a cafeteria, high school locker, and a toilet.
Jenkins workshops which teach his sculpture and installation techniques have been held in North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
