The Delaware Contemporary is introducing a new concept at its Wilmington Riverfront home.
It’s called the Draper Experiment, and it invites artists to creatively respond to contemporary issues using the E. Avery Draper Gallery at the heart of The Delaware Contemporary’s space.
The Draper Experiment accepted proposals from artists reflecting their concerns and critiques of the world around them and encouraged use of new methods and techniques.
The first round of Draper Experiment exhibits are scheduled for 2019.
Below is a list of the artists whose work will be displayed in the E. Avery Draper Gallery:
Willie Yao
January 4 - February 24, 2019
Willie Yao's interactive work explores what it means to maintain one's identity while living a life split between China and the United States, art and business, and joy and loss. A native of Shanghai, Yao holds a BA Degree in Landscape Design from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and has contributed paintings and illustrations for magazines and media including Gentlemen's Quarterly, Bazaar, and Modern Weekly.
Tia Santana
March 1 - April 28, 2019
Tia Santana's ceramics examine and question the historicity of white institutionalism, black culture, and hair identity. She incorporates both ceramic creations and real hair extensions worn by her that work together to evoke similar forms and textures in her body of work. Santana earned BFAs in 2D Fine Arts and 3D Fine Arts along with a fashion minor from Moore College of Art and Design. She also holds an MFA from the University of Delaware in ceramics and sculpture.
Anthony Bowers
May 3 - June 30, 2019
Anthony Bowers tackles thorny but timely issues of consumerism and waste while inviting viewers to engage in ritualistic Western processes of confession and prayers to alleviate the fears and anxieties that plague them. Bowers received his BFA in painting from Indiana University and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts.
Clay Dunklin
August 2 - September 29, 2019
Clay Dunklin subverts familiar navigational methods by placing his vessels made of white microcrystalline wax directly on the gallery floor as a way to upend the viewer's understanding of space and orientation. Dunklin is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in the Baltimore/D.C. area whose experimental practice includes performative, video, and installation works.
Chris Andricola and Jake Foster
October 4 - November 30, 2019
Chris Andricola and Jake Foster will team up to generate a series of photographs that investigate the many ways mass media and consumerist lifestyles disconnect social ties, resulting in a barren disconnection with humanity, nature, and repressed sexuality. Andricola holds a BFA in Studio Art from Rowan University and regularly exhibits his photography at local galleries including the Perkins Center for the Arts and the Markeim Art Center. Foster is an MFA candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign and holds a BA in Art from Rutgers University-Camden.
Jacintha Clark
December 6, 2019 - February 23, 2020
Jacintha Clark challenges the limits of porcelain's ability to contain memory and time by reconfiguring its materiality and physical forms. Clark holds degrees from Arapahoe Community College, Metropolitan State College of Denver, and an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She has exhibited widely along the East Coast and now works and resides in Philadelphia.
More information is available at The Delaware Contemporary's website.
Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
