Tape art

technique c. 1989-present United States Europe

Tape art is art whose primary material is pressure-sensitive adhesive tape - packing tape, masking tape, duct tape, or colored vinyl. As a distinct practice it emerged in the late twentieth century alongside street art and site-specific installation: the Providence collective Tape Art (founded 1989) drew room-scale murals in low-adhesive tape that were peeled away after the event, and tape entered museums in the 1990s through Jim Lambie's striped floor environments. In the 2000s Mark Jenkins cast life-size figures from clear packing tape and installed them in city streets, while Max Zorn taped small portraits onto Amsterdam street lamps. The material's appeal is double: it is cheap, fast, and reversible, ideal for temporary public work; and layered translucent packing tape, lit from behind, builds tonal depth like a stained-glass window, turning a hardware-store supply into a picture-making medium.

"Let them have the rest, we own the night baby", tape art artwork by Max Zorn , made with packing tape on acrylic glass (backlit).
"Let them have the rest, we own the night baby", tape art artwork by Max Zorn , made with packing tape on acrylic glass (backlit).CC BY-SA 4.0 (credit: Max Zorn) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Pressure-sensitive tape as the sole or primary material - no paint or ink
  • Hard edges and flat, unmodulated color imposed by the tape's uniform width
  • Designed for removal: low-adhesive murals are peeled off and leave no trace
  • Translucent packing tape layered to build tone; backlit panels glow like stained glass
  • Lines run with the architecture - across floors, stairs, and walls - to reshape the room
  • Tape-cast sculpture: transparent shells molded over bodies and objects

Key figures

  • Jim Lambie (b. 1964) — Turner-shortlisted Scottish artist whose striped Zobop floors brought tape into museums
  • Mark Jenkins (b. 1970) — American street artist who pioneered casting life-size figures from clear packing tape
  • Mark Khaisman (b. 1958) — Ukrainian-born maker of backlit packing-tape light boxes held by the Delaware Art Museum
  • Max Zorn (active from 2011) — Dutch-German artist who taped portraits onto Amsterdam street lamps, then built backlit packing-tape panels

Example works

Sources

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