Street Bust #1, mixed media collage on wood panel, 24" x 33" by Joshua Jenkins.
Jenkins’ new series embraces the visual language of abstraction in a way his earlier work had only flirted with. Like the Pop artists of the 1960s and the Dadaists of the 1920s, Jenkins seeks to challenge the seriousness of the art world, and question what "fine art" actually is. This newfound irreverence toward art making has led Jenkins to learn to enjoy the act of creating again.
The title of his new body of work, Tag You’re It, not only pays homage to Jenkins’ deep admiration of Guerilla Art and street tagging, but serves as a cheeky allusion to rediscovering the fun in creating. Each piece uses appropriated imagery and personal photography, which are then digitally manipulated, printed and collaged together with homemade wheat paste. The images used in this series feature vintage ads, humor, gay themes, pop culture nostalgia, street tags, urban textures and personal drawings.
Art covers urban landscapes across the world, helping to shape culture and start conversations about what art can be. Inspired by the democratic nature of street art and its rejection of elitist art world mores, Jenkins’ new body of work plays with the aesthetics of graffiti and Dadaist collage, with an ultimate goal of inspiring the same creative spark in viewers that has been ignited in him.