ARTISTS
She's taking cut and paste to new levels
Posted on Sun, Apr. 27, 2008
By LYDIA MARTIN
In her junior year at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Miami artist Jen Stark set out for a semester abroad in Aix-en-Provence with two suitcases full of clothes and no art supplies.
''I was only able to bring the two suitcases, so I decided I would just buy art supplies when I got there,'' says Stark, at 25 already making a splash with her hypnotic, vibrantly hued abstract drawings and paper sculptures that invoke everything from worm holes, anatomical cross sections, tropical foliage, trippy sea life and the vibe of those funky Old Florida tourist attractions her grandfather was always taking her to when she was a kid.
It was in Provence that she hit on the highly mathematical yet exultantly organic work, all painstakingly constructed with a low-tech X-acto knife, that is helping create her reputation as one of Miami's most promising up-and-coming artists.
''When I got to France, the euro was really high, and everything was so expensive that when I went into an art store, I wound up having to buy the cheapest thing I thought I could do something with, and that was a stack of multi-color construction paper,'' says Stark, who sometimes comes off like a reserved kid who won't waste words and other times seems insightful beyond her years.
She started playing with the construction paper. Cutting, folding, layering, tunneling.
''I made this layered cone of paper with a hole cut out of it, and the hole kept getting smaller and smaller, kind of like a Russian nesting doll. I didn't make too many other complete pieces, but I just did a lot of experimenting. When I came back for my last year of college I started doing a lot more work with paper,'' says Stark, who shares a studio with six other young artists in a loft space behind downtown Miami's New World School of the Arts, where she went to high school.
AN OCD PROCESS
She takes you on a stroll through busy, gritty streets to have lunch at the Boho-cool Soya e Pomodoro on Northeast First Street, where she tries to explain her artistic process:
``Like, I'm not OCD at all in my regular life? But when it comes to my work, I can do it all day. It's an extension of the very involved doodling that I used to do when I was a little kid. It's really meditative for me, and I hope it's meditative for the viewer, too. I hope they can get lost in these crazy, colorful drawings and sculptures. It's really time-intensive work, and I think there is something about that part of it that maybe people connect with.''
Stark, who returned to Miami after graduating from college in 2005 and spent a year working in a studio space at Lincoln Road's ArtCenter/South Florida before moving to quieter quarters downtown, has had a good measure of success in the past couple of years, selling well at solo shows at the LMAK Projects gallery in New York and Heaven Gallery in Chicago. On May 9, she'll opens a solo show at the Civilian Art Projects gallery in Washington, D.C.
For Art Basel last year, she spent a month working on an elaborate mural behind the Sagamore Hotel, still painting away when the doors opened for the hotel's annual Basel brunch, which brings together some of the biggest players in the national and international art scenes. A couple of Stark's paper sculptures are also included in the Sagamore's large art collection.
''It was kind of cool to be there and get to talk to some of those people who were at the brunch,'' Stark says with a shrug.
She's just psyched that she's already able to make a living from her art.
``I've been pretty lucky. I've been selling enough so far that I don't have to take the more commercial offers that I get. And I have a website that does pretty well. People see my stuff online and contact me to buy it. And the galleries that I have been working with have gotten me some commissions.''
New York art advisor Kimberly Marrero, who spends time scouting Miami talent, says she turned LMAK Projects on to Stark.
''What is interesting to me is that she is such a young artist, but her work hearkens back to the '70s psychedelic era. She does some great animation in addition to the drawings and paper sculptures, but even while using the freshest technology, there's this wonderful vintage feeling to her work,'' Marrero says. ``Also this feeling of invoking feminist, craft-related work. Jen Stark brings all of that full circle. There is this intimacy to her work, like she is taking you with her into the studio where she is slicing and folding all that paper. There are a lot of layers of information in her work. I think her market will be very strong.''
A TEACHER REMEMBERS
Says Miami artist Wendy Wischer, who was one of Stark's teachers at New World:
``Even in high school she was a great student who worked very hard. I think her craft is incredible, and I like how she is presenting it, moving stuff from the wall to the floor. She's young, and she has all the right stuff to make all the important stuff happen.''
Stark, who grew up in South Miami, says much of her inspiration to become an artist came from her grandfather, the late Jack Stark, The Miami Herald's aviation writer in the 1930s who later went on to publicize South Florida attractions such as Monkey Jungle, Parrot Jungle and Vizcaya.
``He took me to all of those places. We had a backstage pass to Monkey Jungle because of my grandpa. He was really into South Florida -- boating, all of that. He told me how he was once shipwrecked on Key Biscayne when it was nothing but mangroves, and he had to spend the night there. I think the colors that I use are really relevant to all of that. And my shapes sort of represent sea life, plants. I grew up in a house with a lot of ferns, sea grapes, passion-flower vines and bougainvillea everywhere.''
Jack Stark painted watercolor Everglades landscapes and sailboats against the bay. Mostly as a hobby. His granddaughter was mesmerized.
''I remember one day going over to his house with my Cabbage Patch doll, and he started teaching me some techniques. You know, getting shadows and that sort of thing. I think I was 5,'' Stark says. ``When I was little, we were always on a boat or experiencing the tropics somehow, and all of that Miami stuff is still there in my work.''
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