8. Jen Stark

Cultist proudly presents "100 Creatives," where we feature Miami's cultural superheroes in random order. Have suggestions for future profiles? Email [email protected] with the whos and whys. 


8. Jen Stark 

Most of us aren't able to do too much with construction paper, but Miami artist Jen Stark pretty much creates the unbelievable. With a BFA in Fibers from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Stark is most recognized for her labor-intense paper sculptures which mirror designs found in nature. "I think geometry, nature, and mathematics have everything in common. My ideas are also based on replication and infinity as well as hypnotic, optical designs that mimic mandalas and sacred objects," explains the artist.

Stark's oeuvre of mind-bending work originally began with a summer

abroad trip to the south of France where the artist found a friend in

construction paper due to its bargain price and potential. Eventually,

Stark's stack of colorful paper transformed into three-dimensional

sculptures which has now expanded to include drawings and animation.

One

of her most impressive and meticulous sculptures, How to Become a Millionaire in 100 days,

includes a mountain of one million pieces of confetti-style paper

achieved through hand cutting 10,000 pieces a day. Stark explains the

thought behind the sculpture: "For this piece I wanted to challenge the

idea of being a millionaire: someone with one million dollars? Or one

million objects? Having one million of something makes you a

millionaire, doesn't it?"

while her artwork might not be worth millions, yet, Stark has garnered a

fan base that includes Miami collectors and comedy sketch artist Eric

from Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

"Eric is awesome! I'm happy to have someone so crazy and brilliant as a

fan of my work. I don't officially collect work, but I have little

drawings from artist friends," says Stark. As an artist who has

exhibited extensively, Stark continues to find inspiration in her

hometown explaining, "There is so much amazing stuff going on but still a

lot of room to grow, which is exciting." 

1. List five things that inspire you. 

-FREEGUMS
-Outer space and how what we see is in the past
-The Florida Everglades
-Kaleidoscopes
-Super friends & family

2. What was your last big project? 

A huge 9 ft. x 6 ft. sculpture made out of paper that dripped down the wall at SCOPE Art Fair in Carol Jazzar's booth. 

3. What's your next big project? 

Next

is a 2-person show at Show&Tell gallery (Toronto) with amazing

artist Maya Hayuk. We'll be doing collaborations as well as our own

work. Also, I'm doing an animations for one of Dan Deacon's new tracks.

He is a genius musician/composer from Baltimore who has great live

shows.

 
​4. Why do you do what you do? 

Why not, bro?

5. What's something you want Miami to know about you? 

I'm

3rd generation Miamian. My great-grandpa owned a dairy/cattle farm

where the Miami airport is located today. On the other side, my

grandparents met while working at the Miami Herald in the 1930's. She

did classified's and he was an aviation reporter and saw Amelia Earhart

off on one of her last flights.

What's something you don't want Miami to know about you? 

I peed on the magic carpet.


The Creatives so far:

9. Adler Guerrier
10. Susan Lee-Chun
11. Andres and Diego Meza-Valdes
12. Beatriz Monteavaro
13. Timothy Buwalda
14. Edwidge Danticat
15. Juraj Kojs
16. Cat Dove
17. Campbell McGrath
18. Frances Trombly
19. Jose Mertz
20. Emma Trelles
21. Pablo Cano
22. Natasha Tsakos
23. Freegums
24. Aurora Natrix
25. Gean Moreno
26. Yaddyra Peralta
27. Barron Sherer
28. Brigid Baker
29. Daniel Fila
30. McLaine Oberhellmann
31. Fro Rojas
32. Annie Hollingsworth
33. Preston Allen
34. Cristina Molina
35. David Josef Tamargo
36. Jillian Mayer
37. Alfonso Vega
38. Natasha Lopez de Victoria
39. Aholsniffsglue

40. Heather Maloney
41. Jorge Rubiera
42. Elaine Lancaster
43. Nick Duckart
44. Danielle Estefan
45. John Dufresne
46. Monica Lopez de Victoria
47. Bill Bilowit
48. Alette Simmons-Jimenez
49. Tawnie Silva
50. Ginger Bardot
51. Jonathan David Kane
52. Naomi Fisher
53. Rocky Grimes
54. Teresa Barcelo
55. Paul Tei
56. Lee Materazzi