In the exhibition Of Consequence, Mark Stockton presents a group of drawings that connect collective societal fears. The installation of detailed drawings, rendered in graphite, connect nuclear escalation, the rise of artificial intelligence and the use of surveillance. Specific identities and grids of people establish and dissolve a sense of the individual as they relate to the formation of these consummate fears. The US and Russia become sites for adversarial comparison when considering the concepts (or politics) of exile, martyrdom, and freedom.

As research and for inspiration, Stockton references historical photographs, numerous biographical nonfiction sources and looks to literary history to expand and connect the relationships. He believes that Fyodor Dostoyevsky summed up his intent in Notes from Underground when he stated “I swear to you… that to be overly conscious is a sickness, a real, thorough sickness.”