JEN STARK -
MIAMI.USA
1 OCTOBER 2009
Written by
ANNABEL FENN
Cylinder: Paper Cut [2007]
We at [^]LAND
used to love nothing more than downing a bottle of Jack
Daniels on a Saturday night while listening to some
post-punk, then hit the discotheques with fear written all
over our faces because we’d consumed too many class As. The
best part of the night was always after 5 a.m when you
reached a certain clarity, when edges and colours became harder
and truer, and you could entertain yourself the whole next
day just monged out on a sofa, stroking a puppy and watching
objects morph into others just by moving your head. Those
days are long gone, yet the sculptures of Jen Stark bring
back those fond moments where you long to drink color and
rub yourself on any tactile surface.
Flash Spectrum [2007]
Stark’s sculptures are made out of rainbow-coloured pieces
of construction paper and her kaliadescopic eyes. Quite
possibly the love-child of Peter Callesen and Janis Joplin
this 26 year old started making paper sculptures in France
because she was skint and the cheapest supplies she could
get her soon to be mangled, paper-cut mitts on was
construction paper. From there she began experimenting with
the possible three dimensional qualities of said paper
without resorting to those pop-up chick cards we made for
Mum at Easter.
The geometric sculptures swing from high altitudes to Pob’s
innards in explosions of unadulterated colour. You get the
feeling Stark grew up with magnolia walls in an itchy-grey
school uniform and a work like Cylinder: Paper Cut
[2007] is
a manifestation of the elaborate kid inside of her. Not
content with performing card-surgery, Stark morbidly took
her X-Acto knife to a bunch of leaves found in her parent’s
garden to emphasize the skeleton and vein structure of the
dying plant. C’mon kids, you know knife parties are the
next big thing…
Point of Exposure [2007]
www.jenstark.com
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