Embedded Sculpture

The first time you see a man put his head through a building you will be startled, shocked, and perhaps scared.  But if you go up to this man you will discover, he is not a man.  He is a mound of tape covered in clothes.  A sculpture by the artists Mark Jenkins, part of a series of street installations, titled "embed".  Jenkins, who has installed these 'embeds" all over the world, doesn't merely seek to shock for shock's sake, but rather, to shake us out of our daily routine - to look twice.  And that is exactly the function of all good art - to make us stop and look.  And look again.  Though at times his work feels a bit like an episode of a hidden camera TV show, the experience is very different.  Mark doesn't jump out to yell 'gotcha'.  Instead he leaves the scene of the 'crime' and let's the individual who stumbles upon his work take their time to investigate what he's left behind.   

 

 

Comments

[Claudia]

Thta's quite unusual but of a big effect!
Surely it hits the spot.

[Pranay]

Where do u draw the boundary between art and thrash? Does shocking necessarily mean art or vice versa?

[Jeremy]

Pranay asks an important question. For me Jenkin's sculptures are only momentarily shocking. As soon as you stop to really look, we realize these 'people' are placed in a physically impossible position- they are surreal situations rather than simply shocking. There isn't any fake blood. Nobody jumps out to yell 'gotcha'. Instead we approach the figure and find out its made of masking tape. A finely crafted figural sculpture made out of a very banal material - just waiting to be discovered by the unsuspecting pedestrian. Shocking is momentary, but the process of discovery lingers. This makes it art - at least to me.