Mark Jenkins is a prominent American urban artist, widely known for his macabre and shocking street installations. He invented his own technique of casting objects using packing tape and plastic wrap. With it, he has created a range of characters from clear ducks, dogs and babies to clothed hyper-realistic anthropomorphic beings molded from his own body and that of his partner Sandra Fernandez. He focuses on urban themes and often locates itself within this physical context. Born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1970, Jenkins practise of street art is to use the "street as a stage", where his sculptures interact with the surrounding environment including passerby who unknowingly become actors.

He installs his sculptures in such a manner that they inevitably interact with ordinary people passing by, turning them into actors. Often described as macabre, shocking, situationist and whimsical Jenkins' work often draws the attention of the police. He cites the late figurative sculptor Juan Munoz, Aphex Twin and Albert Camus' philosophies on the absurd as his inspiration. His career began in Rio with one figure in a refuse dump - now his work has sprawled across cities worldwide, making people question what is real and what is not.