mark jenkins

Mark Jenkins is hilarious, in a slightly creepy but mostly genius sort of way. He is an American street artist who creates public installations by creatively placing sculptures in various cities around the world. Jenkins is perhaps best known for sculptures he creates out of clear mailing tape, but in my opinion the funniest and most subtle yet effective works of his are the ones in which he places very realistic looking people and objects in odd, questionable situations.

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All images property Mark Jenkins. Source: http://www.xmarkjenkinsx.com.

Rome

Rome

Rome

Rome

Rome

Dublin

Winston-Salem

Bordeaux

Malmö

Malmö

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

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These installations all incorporate a strong element of humor, but one that is inseparable from a simultaneous feeling of unease and slight discomfort. Especially with pieces like those in Rome with the person lounging in the hammock or the person with their legs sticking out of the dumpster, there is a realism to these people that is hard to ignore, despite the ridiculous situations Jenkins manufactures. While the absurdity is more obvious in pieces such as the one with the man’s head stuck in the wall of the building, there is still an element of belief that the viewer cannot completely let go of due to the perfect scale and casual placement of Jenkins’ sculptures. They are funny… but only after the feelings of nervousness, confusion, and/or uneasiness are induced in the viewer first.

The “people” are placed out in the open without any signs or wall labels or indication of them being part of any sort of artistic series, and cities with high volumes of pedestrian traffic are the perfect locations for them. Jenkins does a brilliant job of making just about every passerby a part of his work, whether they stop and look or not. Those who do stop and look participate by acknowledging the work as something that is just not quite right and something that was purposefully placed in the respective environment. Those who do not stop and look conversely participate by allowing the work to blend in perfectly with the surroundings, which is equally as important in order to maintain subtlety and the important element of trickery.

Ultimately, this generates a delicate but necessary balance in Jenkins’ work: his pieces must fit in to the city as generally inconspicuous objects, but also embody just a hint of quirkiness and strangeness just noticeable enough to make viewers do a double-take. Even after careful inspection, Jenkins still retains a sense of ambiguity about the work and does not ever fully give away that these are sculptures of fake people. He lets the audience figure it out on their own, working through their own doubts and uncertainty, which makes the work incredibly engaging to a broad range of viewers.

Aside from being so clever and also slightly awkward, Jenkins’ work also puts a whole new spin on street art. While graffiti is the classic vehicle of public art, Jenkins’ work retains that raw quality of graffiti, while incorporating the high level of craft and skill of the historically renowned high art of sculpture. His work has a completely different feel than pristine sculpture gardens or iconic pieces such as the LOVE sculpture in Philly, yet Jenkins’ pieces are just as well-made and just as publicly displayed. This work straddles the line between borderline-vandalism and professionally-presented art, which makes it all the more unique and striking.

Overall, I love these city installations and although they could not be more different from the art I make, I cannot help but sing their praises and be continually impressed by Jenkins’ creativity.

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artist’s website: http://www.xmarkjenkinsx.com

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federico carbajal

Federico Carbajal is an extremely talented artist who creates graphic and unique sculptures that combine science, art, and craft – three of my very favorite things. Rather than the traditional sculptures of bodies that are bulky and solid, Carbajal creates, as he explains in his artist statement, “tridimensional hybrids [that] bring together drawing, architecture and sculpture in order to create a coherent spatial entity.” The human form has been a historically significant source of artistic inspiration for centuries, but Carbajal represents it in a modern and fresh manner through the pieces in his “Anatomical Architectures” series.

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All images from http://federicocarbajal.weebly.com. Property of Federico Carbajal.

Capsule Hands

Galvanized wire, stainless steel, wire mesh, wood glass cylinder; 12″x12″x36″ each; 2008-2009

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Anatomical No-Body

Galvanized wire, stainless steel, acrylic; 18″x6″x18″ each; 2010

Anatomical No-Body (Heart)

Anatomical No-Body (Uterus)

Anatomical No-Body (Brain)

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Structural Spine

Galvanized wire, stainless steel, acrylic; 8″x5″x48″; 2009.

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As a student starting medical school in August, the anatomical and scientific subject matter of these sculptures unsurprisingly appeals to me a great deal, but aside from this contextual attraction, the unique presentation of the human body is what interests me most. When I think of traditional sculpture, I picture blocks of marble or clay, from which one chisels out the pieces, little by little, until a form emerges. Carbajal however takes a very different approach and thinks not just about the volume of a 3D sculpture, but also the lack of volume and hollowness it can simultaneously adopt.

In his artist statement, Carbajal states: “Spatial sketching allows for the possibility of new representations of images in space, exploring the void and the dematerialization of volume.” This concept of “spatial sketching” is particularly intriguing to me, as I mainly work in 2D and can’t help but follow all the lines and patterns of the wires that make up these anatomical architectures. These is an intricacy to Carbajal’s sculpting that is so detailed and linear, yet the forms and body parts still convey a strong sense of presence when all the wires and mesh and other materials are woven together. The construction allows the viewer to dissect each part of the sculptures in a transparent manner that is typically impossible in most sculptural works.

The choice of material (wire, metals, etc.) and maintenance of their natural silver tones are also very interesting juxtapositions to the warm fleshy hues of real living human bodies. Smooth skin and soft, plush, flexible organs are transformed into harsh lines and shiny metallic surfaces, yet remain recognizable in their overall shapes and proportions. Though the wires are solid and hard, they still convey a light quality in the way they are strung together in delicately ordered patterns. The wires seem to form a type of 3-dimensional x-ray, as Carbajal’s sculptures present snapshots of the human body but through 3D materials instead of flat x-ray film.

The methods of display of Capsule Hands and Anatomical No-Body are also quite clever and true to their scientific inspiration. A reference to specimens in clear jars put on display, Carbajal’s sculptures additionally play off of the ideas of preservation and immortality. Humans are by definition mortal and studying their anatomy, whether during a full body autopsy or cadaver dissection or observation of pickled organs in jars, necessarily involves the extra step of preserving their parts. Carbajal does that through art rather than science, and thankfully without the odor of formaldehyde, allowing an intense examination of something otherwise inaccessible.

Both his technical skill and ability to convey these many scientific associations make Carbajal an artist who can be admired by people from multiple disciplines and backgrounds.

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Source of images and artist’s website: http://federicocarbajal.weebly.com.

All images used with the permission of Federico Carbajal.

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