MY ETERNAL FLAME by Mark Jenkins x UB
Mark Jenkins is an American street artist whose subdued + enigmatic hyperrealistic figures rest in the streets of cities around the world, and pre-pandemic, became intriguing + often alarming spectacles to tourists + locals. Left alone in the empty streets during lockdowns, the artworks lost their integral audience.
As one of Unique Board’s debut artist collaborations in 2019, Mark Jenkins returns in May 2021 to release his first ever Augmented Reality artwork MY ETERNAL FLAME.
MY ETERNAL FLAME
AUGMENTED REALITY, EDITION OF 40
New COA design: Activating your AR, via QR code.
Based on the original installation, MY ETERNAL FLAME in AR digitizes two faceless companions standing linked together, one clinging to other’s leg, who looms high above their partner. MY ETERNAL FLAME speaks to isolation + the desire for emotional intimacy.
During its installation in Munich, Germany in 2020, the work was set on fire without Mark’s knowing — as a result of criminal activity. Heartbroken to see the work in flames, MY ETERNAL FLAME’s Augmented Reality existence immortalizes this piece into a form that can live with collectors in infinite locations, wherever they wish to experience it.
Installation in Munich, Germany — 2020
Mark Jenkins
Mark Jenkins is an American artist who makes sculptural street installations involving the human form. The gestures of these figurative sculptures are expressive and thought-provoking, often stopping passerby’s to contemplate the situation.
“Collectively I refer to the project as the Glazed Paradise, an extra dimensional place mostly in my mind full of characters. Ordinarily, something like this would be a book, but I manifest the characters on the street so that people, dogs, pigeons, etc unknowingly become part of the story. Sometimes the characters have been rescued by ambulances, destroyed by bomb squads, set on fire by angry residents, or adopted by bar owners. I've done these installations in over 30 countries and each time it ends differently although often for the characters it's on the tragic side.”
