Wilmington's Art on the Town Features “Mark Stockton: Making Weight”

Plus spring fashion in Rehoboth, the rootsy Carolina Chocolate Drops at The Grand, Blue Rocks opening day and more.

Here’s one to see when it opens during Wilmington’s Art on the Town April 4: “Mark Stockton: Making Weight” at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts displays 10 new photo-realistic graphite drawings connected to Delaware history, including renderings of historical American figures such as Pete Rose and Ernest Hemingway that initiate a dialogue about masculinity and individualism. The idea comes from the practice of wrestlers shedding extra pounds to “make weight” in their class. Stockton sees the idea of making weight as a metaphor for how people and society wrestle with conflicting desires, often achieving greatness while sacrificing other values. Researching such ideas for the new drawings, Stockton sourced disparate images from the Internet, then drew exacting reproductions, from “Fight Club” film stars Brad Pitt and Edward Norton to Tyvek suits made by DuPont to the 1968 Martin Luther King assassination riots in Wilmington. Stockton also places two small piles, one of gun powder and one of graphite, in the gallery as an allusion to humanity’s competing urges to create and destroy. Installed in a pyramid-formation on the wall, the drawings and peripheral objects, with Bob Marley’s song “Sinner Man” playing softly in the background, proffer a haunting and critically engaged vision of American culture. Stockton is also interested in network theory, the study of complex interacting systems, as it relates to digital culture. One application of this theory has gained significant use in military intelligence, where it is employed to uncover insurgent networks of both a hierarchical and leaderless nature. In parallel fashion, Stockton produces an evocative graphic representation of disparate signs that, when viewed together, reveal something larger. The artist visualizes what he terms a “bullet lineage,” which he traces from DuPont’s supply of gun powder to arm the Union during the Civil War to the company’s present production of bullet-proof Kevlar suits to protect the U.S. Military. In the end, the artist creates a mysterious pictorial index of appropriated imagery, revealing capitalist contradictions and other narratives typically omitted from dominant American history. It’s worth a look. thedcca.org

On the Side: “The Wilmingtonians” is a dark comedy about a family moving from Texas to Wilmington to “be somebody.” Filmed in Wilmington and New Castle, the comedy twists and turns and laughs abound. It premieres April 4 at the Delaware Art Museum. Writer Michaelangelo Rodriguez is the author of “Waiting for the Garden of Eden” and “The Story of Coqui Claus.” His new book, “Washington Shore” is a supernatural love story based in Delaware and Washington, D.C. It will be published May. 

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HT_WeeksEvents

April 4
 
InWilmWeek [IN Wilmington Promotional Pick of the Week] It’s In Wilmington Week as of today. Kick it off at the Wilmington Trap Stars Street Art Exhibition Reception at DCCA and & re:Fresh-the Official Art on the Town After Party… More
Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line are a traveling carnival of acoustic Americana. The high energy, Nashville-based quintet performs original story-songs with tight, three-part harmonies with fiddles and strings… More

April 5
 
Carolina Chocolate Drops The refreshingly rootsy Carolina Chocolate Drops return to The Grand for another spirited performance. Find out why The Guardian calls them “the most electrifying acoustic act around.”… More
In the Beginning CoroAllegro explores the music of creation and renewal with In the Beginning, featuring works by Aaron Copland, Gabriel Jackson, Herbert Howells, and Maurice Duruflé. Beautiful… More
Splendor of Spring The Village Improvement Association of Rehoboth Beach presents the Splendor of Spring fashion show at the Rehoboth Beach Country Club. See what local merchants have to offer… More
Museum of Natural History Learn about some of the hidden treasures at Delaware Museum of Natural History in a fun, interactive program, What You Didn’t Know About the Museum, and find out what goes on behind the scenes… More
Teddy Bear Tea Take your favorite stuffed animal to the Teddy Bear Tea at the Brandywine Zoo for a fun-filled breakfast and party. Meet the zoo director, and get the zoo to yourself before it opens to the public. It’s a roaring good time… More
Art Auction In the market for art? Visit the Center for the Creative Arts in Yorklyn for the Hockessin-Greenville Rotary Art Auction. You’ll find only the finest originals… More

April 6
 
Mounted Patrol The Miles for the Mounted Patrol cross-country run-walk at the Carousel Equestrian Center raises funds for the New Castle County Police. Giddy-up… More

April 8
 
Blue Rocks It’s the Wilmington Blue Rocks home opener. Get to Frawley Stadium to see them against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans… More

 

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