WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) is installing a figure by artist Mark Jenkins at the Clark Campbell Transportation Center located at 100 West Fifth Street on Nov. 2.
Jenkins is one of seven artists featured in SECCA’s year-long public art series Inside Out: Artists in the Community II.
Jenkins, of Washington, D.C., fashions surreal figures from the humble medium of packing tape. Turning this tape into all manner of sculptural creations – from fire hydrants and parking meters to mischievous babies and fully dressed life-size people – he turns the everyday into the extraordinary.
The sculpture to be installed at the bus station is informally titled Sleepwalker. The Clark Campbell Transportation Center is one of the busiest sites in the city of Winston-Salem, moving thousands of people through its network every day. It is a place in perpetual motion, and an icon of passage between states of waiting/resting and walking/moving.
Jenkins’ Sleepwalker figure animates this condition of the ‘in-between’ – literally standing between positions of slumber and movement. Has this figure risen from its sleeping bag too quickly, or has the process of waiting led it to sleep while standing? In this uncertain in-between, the mysterious figure becomes something out of a waking dream. Like a surreal ghost moving through our physical reality, it will stand in Winston-Salem for a moment, and soon disappear.
For more information on Mark Jenkins and his work in Winston-Salem, please visit the SECCA Web site: www.secca.org. People can also use their cell phone to learn more, and to offer your comments about the work. Call SECCA’s Guide by Cell service at: (336) 201-0681. This is a FREE service, but normal cell phone rates apply to the call.
Steven Matijcio, SECCA curator of contemporary art, says, “This is one of six sculptures Mark Jenkins created for SECCA’s public art program. We have worked closely with the City of Winston-Salem and the Winston-Salem Police Department so they will be alerted that this sculpture is going on view for the public.”
This project is supported by a grant from The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and the James G. Hanes Foundation. In-kind support is provided by Sundance Plaza Hotel, Spa and Wellness Center and 3M. We are also grateful to the City of Winston-Salem, The Winston-Salem Transit Authority, Reynolda House, Tanglewood Park, and Krankies for their support and assistance in the presentation of this work.
SECCA is an operating entity of the North Carolina Museum of Art, an agency of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. SECCA is also a funded partner of The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.