Shock of passers-by: sculptures by Mark Jenkins. Mark Jenkins American installation

Mark Jenkins (b. 1970 in Fairfax, Washington) - American artist, known around the world for his street installations created from packing tape. Time Out: New York, The Washington Post, and The Independent periodically write about him.

And so the conceptualist and “art street guy” Jenkins came to Russia for the first time, first of all going to conduct a master class in Yekaterinburg.

— Mark, you discovered scotch tape as a child. Why, with all the variety of choices, was it the one that stuck in your soul?
- Mainly because it is light and transparent. I actually discovered the trick of making casts of objects using tape when I was a child. I wrapped the pencil in adhesive tape, and the teacher reprimanded me for allegedly wasting the tape.

Then I left this activity for about 20 years. And I returned to it when I was teaching English language in Rio de Janeiro - I had a lot of free time between classes. One day I made a big ball out of foil to give me something to do. I liked the result. Then I decided to make a cast of the coffee pot. A couple of months later, I already had several hundred rolls of tape at home, and I made casts of everything in the apartment, including myself.

“Your occupation doesn’t seem entirely safe.” One student admitted that if my friends did everything carefully, then I would remain alive after the wrapping.
- In fact, she was joking - the process of wrapping a human being with tape is indeed a strange sight, and the person feels unusual. But of course this is not life threatening. As for the smell, I consulted with the manufacturers of adhesive tape. I was assured that the material was not toxic at all and that a respirator could be used if necessary.

— In North Carolina, they say you placed your “installed” girl on top of a billboard, and frightened residents even called 911 for her. What is the purpose?
— When I post my work on in public places, I get invaluable life experiences that I can completely enjoy. Back then, in Carolina, people actually tried to call the girl on the billboard for 911. But most were still surprised and had fun. The girl on the billboard really shook them up, distracted them from the bustle of everyday life and the usual circle of thoughts and worries.

— Is that why you place your works on the street?
— In galleries, my work is just art. But in an open urban environment they become something more. In my opinion, memorials, memorials, monuments for the most part have to do with the past. Their main goal is to prolong a moment that took place once upon a time. But I would like it to surprise the viewer and present him with an image of the future. I try to play with this type of sculpture - I think my intrusions rejuvenate them, refresh them, turn them into a surprise for the casual viewer.

Street sculpture has obvious advantages even in relation to another type of street art - graffiti. The entire street around - walls, lamps, people, road signs - become parts of a huge installation. This can have a powerful impact on the public.

Street sculpture- the phenomenon is usually short-lived...
“Sometimes the count lasts for hours, sometimes for many weeks.” And some “works” are thrown into the trash almost instantly. I don’t really think about how long my work will last, and whether I need to take care to prolong its existence.

In general, the beauty of street art for the city and its citizens is that it creates visual accents, decorates, and does not try to impose or sell something - like advertising. Another thing is that the city usually does not value these works - to the point that the artists are constantly threatened with prison.

— Which of your works are associated with your strongest memories?
— Perhaps this is my “Stork Project.” Installation consisting of transparent baby figures. They are adorable, but also defenseless - after all, I place these transparent “children” on outdoors, in the most unsafe places for real children. This is a direct analogy with the essence of life - with its beauty and vulnerability. Sometimes the figures of children play, sometimes they hang on the edge, ready to break off and fall.

One day I chose a place for them in Franklin Park in Washington, not knowing that a homeless old man lived nearby. I was securing the babies to the tree, and he began to talk to me very unfriendly, wanting to drive me away. And suddenly, noticing the babies, he completely changed and began to worry about me. When he found out that I did not have children of my own, he immediately concluded that my installation was the need to have a wife and family. I agreed, and he immediately began to teach me things, for example, that “the best food is the one prepared by a wife and mother.” On his advice, I even moved the babies “so that they would be like brothers and help each other.” In the end, the old man hugged me with tears in his eyes.

— Why were specifically chosen for the installations in Yekaterinburg a man watching TV, a boy playing and a girl of easy virtue standing somewhere in the area of ​​Malysheva Street?
— All these characters were invented and embodied with my support by Ekaterinburg students and young people who attended my seminars. They learned the technique of making these hollow figures from adhesive tape and tried everything on themselves. Sometimes the emptiness of our characters is a hint of the real loss of identity that has become a problem today.

So, in addition to the characters you listed, you can see here some completely unusual ones - a pregnant centaur, a multi-armed “Martian”, a homeless person - the imagination of the Yekaterinburg creators was limitless! UrGAKhA students completed a sculpture that is half human body. They will put her in the grass, and she will seem to be emerging from the ground. We have “Dancing in the Fountain”, we have a chain from “Lovers” - by the way, they will hang on the cornice without clothes. It seems to us that the figures will last longer this way. Some of the guys, making jokes and jokes, worked on a sculpture of a utility worker who would climb into a manhole.

— What are your impressions of working with Ekaterinburg students, and what awaits you next?
— The impressions from working with Yekaterinburg residents are the most favorable. Your people are very creative, relaxed, and cheerful. We studied and worked simply selflessly. But in general, creative people all over the world they are very similar to each other - regardless of their habitat. As for my future plans, master classes in Spain are next. Then I'll go to California, then to Brazil.

You can see photographs of Mark Jenkins’ sculptures on the streets of Yekaterinburg.

(1970 )

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Mark Jenkins ( Mark Jenkins) is a very famous American artist, representative of street art. Famous for his shocking figures and sculptures. Most of the figures that truly frighten and surprise passers-by are made of tape and transparent film. When you see such installations, you involuntarily think that some person has become ill or something irreparable has happened.

Besides the fact that it appears in different places cities, including Moscow, his works are accepted with pleasure famous galleries, exhibitions and museums.

Born in 1970 in Fairfax, Virginia, USA. The first street exhibitions took place in Rio de Janeiro in 2003. Initially, he created figures of people dressed in clothes and gave them various unusual poses. He documented everything that happened behind this - the behavior of passersby - on camera. One of the most famous such installations is male figure with his head stuck in the wall. Then there were duct tape babies, lollipops in parking lots, various manipulations with road signs, etc.

The technology for making figures is quite simple. If you need to create a hand, then Mark Jenkins wraps tape around his hand, then carefully cuts it, glues the cut and the result is a kind of mask that exactly follows the contours of a real hand.

The author believes that with his works he helps people escape from everyday reality. Work home, eternal problems and suddenly in the middle of the road there is a man covered with newspapers or legs from a trash can. A second of confusion allows you to get out of your shell and find yourself in a world full of adventures and interesting things.

People approach this kind of creativity differently. Some do not consider him an artist at all and everything he does is called real hooliganism, while others see in it something deeper, something that makes you think and fantasize.

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Sculptures made from adhesive tape should appear on the streets of Moscow in the near future. Which ones exactly? No one knows yet, because world street art star Mark Jenkins is creating them right now together with participants in his master classes taking place on the territory of Winzavod. The “private correspondent” attended the first lesson and shares his impressions.

We are hollow people
Worthless people
Crowd of straw
Filled with mummies. Alas!

Hollow Men (T.S. Eliot. The Hollow Men)
Per. Andrey Shapovalov

Five people entered the snow-white hall. Each person has a breadboard knife and a couple of rolls cling film. This is what was needed for the job. Real American tape is issued on the spot.

I also took with me, as recommended on the site, a plaster, a bandage and cotton wool. The Winzavod blog, where pre-registration of participants took place, did not disclose the process of creating figures from adhesive tape, but warned that it is easy to get hurt. The scratched wrist of my left hand is clear evidence that they did not lie.

Mark Jenkins is a great guy! This is immediately obvious. There is something touching and inviting about it. In Russian, he knows only a few words necessary for every self-respecting foreigner. But this does not diminish the desire to communicate with the participants of the master class, because the person really enjoys what he does.


We agreed that we did not need the services of a translator. It was already clear to everyone what to do. And Mark’s English is understandable to any schoolchild.

Mark Jenkins (b. 1970, Fairfax, Virginia) is an American artist known throughout the world for his street installations created from packing tape. His work has been noticed by such publications as Time Out: New York, The Washington Post, and The Independent. One of the world's most popular blogs dedicated to street art, Wooster Collective, made a special review of the work of Mark Jenkins. In addition to street art interventions, the artist’s work is regularly presented in galleries in the USA, Europe, Brazil and the UK. Jenkins' projects inspired others to create Scotch culture everywhere. The artist actively promotes new technology art at tapesculpture.org and teaches the creation process ephemeral sculptures during workshops in the cities he visits

It was necessary to make strips of tape, which would later turn into a sculpture. A lot of tape strips. An indecent amount.

For the first half hour, Mark told us how to do them correctly. Six hours later, when we had covered all the plastic chairs in the hall, I skillfully sculpted strip after strip, but the first twenty pieces were difficult.

So, let's make stripes. Pull out as much tape as possible, holding the spool between your legs - the tape should be stretched with the smooth side facing you. Place all the fingers of your left hand, except the thumb, on the adhesive side of the tape. We count 15 centimeters from the edge and make a cut on the tape on the right side, tear off the strip. Now we apply the strip (together with the glued fingers) with the smooth side to the sticky side of the main tape and again make a cut and tear it off. We repeat again. This way we should have a three-layer adhesive strip.

The hardest part is learning how to glue them without bubbles. Let the stripes be oblique, the main thing is that they are smooth. This procedure is necessary to “compact” the building material.


The final sculpture is made from at least 3-4 layers of stripes, that is, 9-12 layers of tape. It's durable enough (a little softer than a plastic bottle) to stand outdoors.

Now you need some kind of plastic chair, table, or any surface that you don't mind attaching strips to. When the time comes to prepare the sculpture, you will need to tear off the strips one by one, and not frantically add new ones. Therefore, large surfaces are needed.

In general, the process of making building materials for sculptures can take you a very long time if you want to erect a monument to someone from adhesive tape.

So at Mark Jenkins's first master class we started small - hand models. To do this, you don’t need to glue too many strips, but you will need 20-30 pieces. Some of them should be cut lengthwise - made thin to glue fingers, for example.


Wrap a layer of cling film around your hand (yours or someone else’s) to protect the skin from the tape. Later, the frame will need to be removed, and hair removal with tape is not the most pleasant thing that can happen.

When all the skin is covered (1 layer is enough), we begin to paste the prepared strips over the hand. We must imagine that we are applying plaster. We glue the strips at an angle so that they form crosses when crossing. Carefully cover the entire surface so that there are no holes left. Special attention You should give space between your fingers.


Don't put too much pressure on your forearm with the tape, because you'll have to cut it with scissors, and that's where you could get hurt. We cut in a zigzag, pushing the scissors forward. Mark used special medical scissors. I highly recommend purchasing the same ones, because regular ones would be scary to pick around near the veins. When the model is cut, release your hand, take out the cling film (this is quite easy) so that the model is transparent, and seal the slot with strips. Now you can safely give your hand upon request!


You need to make the model sit more comfortably and constantly ask if everything is fine with her. Mark says this is extremely important. We wrap the film from top to bottom, that is, first the thigh, then the calf, then the foot. Pay attention to all joints and protruding bones. The leg should not end up as some kind of straight pillar. No, this, of course, could also be a leg, but we were lucky with the model.

We glue with tape in the same way - from top to bottom. Apply the strips crosswise. The strips can be glued together, making them either longer or wider.


When we reach the foot, we move on to small stripes so as not to miss anything. When the entire leg is covered with tape, take the scissors and cut from the outside of the thigh down to the knee. Then we go to inner side so as to cut close to the bone and not damage anything. We take out the film and subsequently seal the slot.

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The situation with the head is much more interesting. The model, as you can understand, should ideally be bald. Well, a short-haired young man worked as a model for us.

Working with your head is an extremely responsible process. And it’s not even a matter of accidentally cutting off an ear or a clump of hair when we remove the tape. And the fact is that there are many different veins and arteries in the neck, and even men often have a prominent Adam’s apple. Therefore, the neck is glued last.

When Mark showed how to make a “cast” of the head, the guy was asked: “Isn’t it scary?”, He courageously said: “No!” I think being a “head model” is rather unpleasant, because it’s hot, the ears are flattened, the eyes are covered with film.


We leave a hole for the model to breathe through the mouth and begin to wrap the head with cling film. From top to bottom, without smoothing out the deepening of the eyes, without making the nose wider. For the head, thin pieces of tape are mainly used.

By the way, when we glue the eyes, you need to apply slight pressure, otherwise the face will lose its usual features. Large pieces go to the back of the head, small pieces to the face. The model is cut on both sides, first one slot behind the ear somewhere to the middle of the skull, then in front of the ear. We repeat the manipulation on the other side. We pull off the “mask” from the model. The mouth must subsequently be sealed.


In general, this technique makes it possible to create almost any shape and object. Instead of a living person, you can always use a mannequin; if you lack your own forms, you can put newspapers under your clothes and “draw” biceps or the mythical fifth breast size.

You can paste over the toys or first create a layout and then make it transparent. To make the sculpture stronger (let’s say you want to dress it), you can “stuff” it with newspapers. Items made this way can be great home decor or gifts.


At Mark's first master class, we focused on the most interesting things. We had a volunteer who was ready to provide his body to make the sculpture, but everyone was so carried away by sketching ideas for the sculpture that there was no time left for implementation.

So if you want to be wrapped in cling film and covered with tape, you want to create your own sculptural composition, which will be exhibited on the streets of Moscow, hurry to Winzavod before October 19. Please pay attention to pre-registration! Have with you: two rolls of cling film, a breadboard knife and something tight, otherwise you may be stripped naked or left in just tights in a fit of creativity.