Why Do We Walk Past Those in Need of Our Help?
Some provocative art about looking the other way
A story appeared in the art press recently about an incident in which police in London were called to a gallery to assist a woman who was seen sitting at a table slumped over with her head down on the surface. She hadn’t moved for two hours, a concerned passer-by told the police when they arrived.
The officers took the locked door off its hinges to get inside and assist the woman, but found that she was actually a life-sized sculpture. It was a work by the American artist Mark Jenkins.
Jenkins’ art has been called ‘provocative’. It’s certainly eye-catching, although I’m not sure he is deliberately trying to provoke. If anything I would describe it as quietly disturbing rather than provocative, particularly his street art installations. Some of his work is amusing and surreal, and easy to identify as art.
