February 9, 2022

Mark Stockton: 100 People

February 2022 – May 2022 Annenberg Center Arts Lounge

Opening Reception February 15th, 5:30-7:30pm

The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation and Penn Live Arts at the Annenberg Center are pleased to present this exhibition of new work by Philadelphia artist and Associate Teaching Professor of Visual Studies in Drexel’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design Mark Stockton. Mark Stockton: 100 People is a group of 100 hand drawn portraits, photo-referent, made with graphite on paper, and intended to be received as a single work in form and experience. Each subject connects via eye-contact to the viewer, addressing the objectifying nature of portraiture head-on. Portraits have a complex history – they have the potential to venerate, to emotionally connect, to resonate into lived experience – they are also tools of commodification, objectification, and colonialization.

Mark Stockton: 100 People examines who and how we venerate and connect. What is representation in a larger sense? Using demographics to structure an equitable range of representation and selecting subjects from a range of time periods – from the beginnings of portrait photography (1839) to the present – the on-going series seeks to create an evolving canon of portraits, reflecting an expanded narrative of history and identity while centering ideas of inclusivity and subjectivity. Often sourced from recommendations and further reading, the selection process is opened-up beyond the limitations of the artist’s pre-existing-knowledge base; the time-intensive drawings invite further reflection. Each portrait, connecting through an active gaze, looks back on the viewer, collapsing time and space divides, offering different points of connections to different people.

95 of the 100 drawings will be completed by the time the exhibition opens in January; Mark will complete the remaining 5 over the course of the exhibition during scheduled drawing hours in the Arts Lounge. Mark Stockton will give an artist’s talk on Monday, March 14 (time TBD), in the Arts Lounge, and other programming related to the exhibition and the 100 people represented is being planned. Stay tuned here for additional programming.

Mark Stockton is a Philadelphia-based artist. His drawings have been shown both nationally and internationally with exhibitions in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York, London, and Beijing. Originally from the West Coast, he received his BFA from Oregon State University in 1996 and his MFA in Painting and Drawing from Syracuse University in 2000. Since 2009, Mark has worked with the independent arts organization Vox Populi as both a contributing artist and as a board member. His work is in many private and public collections, including the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the West Collection. He currently teaches design and drawing at Drexel University. He lives in Philly with his wife Cindym his two kids Otto and Iona, and his dog Elsie. His most recent works and projects can be found at mtstockton.com.

This exhibition was made possible with support from The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation and was produced by Penn Arts Live and The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.