When you’re constructing a project, do you have a layout for it?
Well, for the drip pattern, for instance, I’ll actually draw all of the lines by hand, and others color them in. With paper sculptures, I’ll do the cutting myself because it’s kind of impossible for someone else to do that part—it would look like their hand. But then I’ll have help putting it together when it comes to the tedious stuff, like the in-between layers that you don’t see, or the gluing.
Do you feel free in the iconic Jen Stark aesthetic system? Your style has evolved, but it’s very Jen Stark.
I definitely feel free in that. It’s amazing to be able to have my own style and to have it evolve and have people recognize that. I guess my main styles would be the paper sculptures, the intricate cutting designs, and the dripping, but I do like to keep pushing and challenging myself. I will definitely keep evolving. I wouldn’t want to do the same thing over and over my whole life.
In one of your past interviews, you said that accessibility is really important to you.
I would love to keep doing more public art because I think that’s the most powerful, and people don’t have to go into a gallery or a museum to view it. I would like to keep pushing that and also do some really huge outdoor public sculptures that incorporate some kind of renewable energy.
Do you mix your colors, or are they straight out of the bottle?
With my rainbow schemes, I’ll usually mix because it’s hard to get the perfect color. But with a lot of the random colors, I’ll just try to use colors straight out of the bottle because it’s easy. As long as they’re opaque enough and I like the color it’s cool.
Is there some sort of color theory, or do you just go with what you feel?
I took color theory in college, so I absorbed all of that, but in my own way of choosing colors, it’s very instinctual. I’ll just know what colors to put next to each other. Usually it deals with contrasting, light and dark hues, stuff like that, but it’s pretty much just my brain deciding. I normally don’t have to think about it too hard.
Do you ever get sick of color?
No. I don’t use color everywhere in my life. Right now my bedroom is very white and clean with a lot of green plants. I don’t immerse myself in a crazy amount of color. I think it’s like a good balance. I haven’t gotten sick of it.
I think about ADD and ADHD a lot because I find it really hard to sit down for more than ten minutes. What sort of methods do you use to stay focused? I’m sure you have to really stay put for long periods of time.
I don’t have ADHD, which is good because I can focus a lot longer. I think I have a lot of self-discipline. I have a meditation practice that I’ve been doing for about a year. It helps to meditate twice a day—twenty minutes each time if I’m good.
What’s coming up for you?
I’m going to have a solo show in New York at the Eric Firestone Gallery this the fall. I’m also going to start making clothing. It’s in the very beginning stages, but in the next couple of months I’ll start coming out with some drippy outfits and stuff like that. It’s going to be through my website. I have a friend helping with the screenprinting, so I’ll have all of the artistic creative freedom and he is executing it. We’re thinking it will come out in the next couple of months.