Artist Talks: Saturdays December 6th & 13th at 1:00PM on both days

Using the conventions of portraiture and montage, the artists have built a site-specific installation that pairs contemporary work alongside historical artifacts.  Inspired by the site of Germantown Historical Society, the exhibition’s imagery is in direct dialog with the neighboring home of George Washington, Gilbert Stuart’s Atheneum Portrait, and the wallpaper and artifacts of the Historical Society.   The front parlor explores the proliferation of George Washington’s likeness, a symbol of visual currency and a stand in for American Liberty and Freedom. This leads into the next gallery, focusing on the masterful mixed media work of Tom Judd, who explores the overlapping narratives of frontier expansion and manifest destiny.  The final gallery takes a darker look at shared history, centering around Mark Stockton’s ghostly, large-scale drawing of Richard Nixon and including presidential histories of exploitation, impeachment, assassination and rebellion.

Overlapping histories are presented without hierarchy; statues share the same space as tchotchkes, historical artifacts alongside informal observations.  In AMERICAN MYTHOLOGIES, Tom Judd and Mark Stockton invite viewers to engage in an on-going, critically essential conversation of becoming America.

ARTIST BIOS

Tom Judd, originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, attended the Philadelphia College of Art in 1973, graduating in 1975. He lives and works in Philadelphia.

He first exhibited his artwork at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1979, where at 25, he was the youngest artist included in a survey show entitled Contemporary Drawing: Philadelphia curated by Ann Percy and Frank Goodyear.

Judd has gone on to show his work prolifically in galleries and museums across the country and internationally. His work can be found in important collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of Art, Woodmere Art Museum, and the Birmingham Museum of Art to name a few.

He works in a variety of mediums including painting, collage, photography and installation work. This includes major public art projects such as the award winning “Portal to Discovery”, a 3,000 square foot subway mural at the Independence Hall station at 5th and Market streets in Philadelphia.

In September of 2028, Judd will be having an expansive 20-year retrospective exhibition at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, that will include an extensive monograph book.

His work and projects can be found at- https://tomjuddart.com/

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. His work has been covered in the LA Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, New American Painting, The Star Ledger, in addition to on-line and hyper-local coverage. He currently teaches design and drawing at Drexel University. He lives in the East Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia with his wife –Cindy– his two kids- –Otto and Iona– and his dog– Elsie.  His work and projects can be found at- http://www.mtstockton.com/Â