Thursday, August 23, 2012

Life-like and alarming: Mark Jenkins sculpture, Taubman Museum, Roanoke, Va

MARK Jenkins creates lifelike sculptures that he fashions out of packing tape and his girlfriend's clothes, says Taubmanmuseum.org.

He places his creations in natural settings, such as streets in places around the world, including Washington, D.C., and Prato, Italy.

One of Jenkins' sculptures had to be removed from its original location on an outdoor terrace of the Taubman because people thought there was a person precariously sitting on the edge and flooded the police with phone calls.

Jenkins said he wasn't bothered by the removal of his statue.

"Most of my pieces have a short lifespan when they are out on the street," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said his works were intentionally not given their own gallery to make viewers experience the full effect of his art.

"My pieces don't have title cards in the museum. I'm not mentioned in many of the press releases. I wanted to play with people. I wanted to catch people off guard."

His sculpture is of a man lying down in the fetal position on the floor in a corner of a gallery of 17th century Italian art wearing tennis shoes and a plaid button shirt.

No comments: