BY SAM DESTEFANO
This month we were lucky enough to sit down and talk with Denver photographer Mark Sink who has been a central figure in Denver’s art scene and a powerful voice and influence in the community. We could have filled this entire issue with the colorful stories from his past. Mark traveled to New York in the 80’s to hang out at Andy Warhol’s Factory. He has also made amazing contributions to art in Denver by co-founding The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver and founding the Month of Photography Denver and The Big Picture street art projects. Mark continues to be a leader for the future of Denverites and artists to come.
You have become known for your incredible work with the obscure wet-plate photography. What exactly is the process and why have you chosen it as your focused medium?
I just seem to always be going backward in time with photo processes when everyone else wants more mega pixels. Collodion wet plate is one of the first processes invented in the 1850s by Frederick Archer. I love that it’s honest. It’s instant. You coat and develop the plate all in one process and shoot the plate while it’s still wet. Then you run and develop it in a tent or any dark space. It’s very hands on. It’s a wonderful instant gratification. It’s like the Polaroid where you watch it develop in your hand. It’s very magical and one of a kind. I love that the light particles from the sun bounced off the sitter and is captured forever right on that plate of light sensitive silver. Normally it bounces and travels back out into the universe forever. I have realized recently that I have been doing long exposure portraits with film, long exposure light painting and Polaroids… my whole career starting in the 1970s, and here I am doing long exposures today. The person holds perfectly still for several seconds. I like long exposure because the sitter is more present, more there, in the moment then in a short burst. A long exposure often gives more intensity and piercing looks. I also love that I can use my great grandfather’s equipment from the 1880s, no batteries or any kind of electricity is used in any part of the process.
What projects are you working on in this upcoming year?
I have a new baby girl Poppy. She will be turning two this spring. I will be gearing up and selecting work and ideas for the Month of Photography. I am remodeling a building in Commerce City to be a gallery and affordable art studios. I am working on a book about NYC art scene in the 1980s. My wife Kristen has a one person show at MCA Denver coming up in May 2018. I will be doing lots of support for her, daddy day care mostly.
Where can people in Denver see your work? Do you have any shows coming up?
I am represented by the RULE gallery. We have some ideas in the works but nothing concrete yet. I also have a great art group called the Denver Collage Club, we will be doing some shows soon.
As someone who has had an iconic and influential role in the Denver art scene for many years, how would you describe the current status of the art scene in Denver? How has it changed and where is it going?
Denver is a great, great art town. There are great things happening young and old. Artists are being pushed out of many popular areas and who knew pot would compete with warehouse space but artists are very organic and resilient. Many are moving (like myself) studio and gallery spaces to outer lying areas. All the surrounding townships like Englewood, Lakewood, Commerce City, Aurora, there are big migrations of artists happening. They will make the places they land cool. As for central Denver, ummm its going to be pretty dry, generic and corporate sadly. Things like BP moving into the once artist hipster area on Platte St. in LoDo or the Financial Center in RiNo. The rentals and condos are at crazy, crazy high prices only the rich can afford. It’s not bad, it’s just different and a bit of a cultural desert.
Rumor has it that you spent some time at Warhol’s Factory during the 80s. What led you there and what was the experience like?
Oh gosh meeting Andy changed my life. It got me to aim higher and to break out of the Denver bubble and eventually move to NYC for the1980s. Andy gave me great belief in myself and my work. At first it was super surreal to hang out with Andy and celebs like Mic Jagger and others and then return back to school at Metro State and develop the film in the school darkroom. Many of those images are on my site gallerysink.com. I don’t really consider any of it art, it’s more just fun and proof that I was there! Haha! We are such a celebrity worship culture, Andy pointed that out to us in the 1960s.
As a long time resident of Denver metro you have been an active and strong standing voice in a community that is being redeveloped and gentrified. Where does this conflict sit and what can we do to preserve the quality of our urban lives and communities?
I am not sure what to say about gentrification, it’s been rolling in over us and me all my life. The sad part for me these days is the super low quality and piss poor design. It’s an embarrassment to our city and culture. Its all so fake and just a phony thin skinned pieces of . . . , worse than a Hollywood set. Nothing is true to the materials anymore. It’s all so greed and profit driven. Where I live, in the Highlands, once a mecca of charm, they have scrapped virtually every great historic building on my block and others. Now are the rows and rows of treeless, grassless “slab and four condos” with tenants that overpaid for their home and are overworked to make the payments and pretend they are living the good life. It’s weird. Plus the ones around me are just a few years old and they’re starting to pop apart already. Sorry to be so down, but people just seem to be so naive, pressured and angry around me these days in my hood. I wish I had a answer for what to do. Things will always be changing, life is short. Find your happy space, be creative. Find your community and party with them. People always remember a great party! Paying forward and giving your time and energy to something that will benefit your community is always great, and can be powerfully rewarding at many levels, like what your doing with Urban Life Wash Park, it’s gotta be a labor of love.
You have been noted as putting Denver on the international map by founding the citywide Month of Photography. How has this blossomed and what can we expect in the future?
MoP has been a great growing ride. We started officially in 2004 with around 30 galleries and museums jumping aboard. Now we have over 180 galleries museums and art spaces celebrating photography over an ever extending period of a few months. Over 250 free-to-the-public events happen during this time. It’s been getting exciting notice from talent and media from all over the world. Some of the biggest art news groups in the world have been reporting and reviewing us. Dozens of others in Germany, Russia, Japan, South America all are asking me what is up with Denver? I do all coordination with my amazing Russian assistant Dasha Baulina. We have very few sponsorships. I do it mostly out of my own pocket. Then I can do as I please and be a bad boy or late or anything. With big corporate sponsorship you can’t mess up or be controversial. It’s my baby. The model also is that each gallery and the photography community support and promote each event themselves uniquely and join the hive. I am just the cheer leader and gatherer. Everyone loves a festival celebration. It flies on its own power.
Thank you so much, Mark, for everything you have done to make our city great. You continue to inspire us in so many ways!