Spartanburg, S.C. –
The University Gallery at the University of South Carolina Upstate will exhibit “Hokes Medical Arts” from September 28 to October 26 and a lecture by the artist will be held Thursday, October 4 at 4:30 p.m. in the Humanities and Performing Arts Center, Room 101. A reception will be held in the Gallery following the lecture. This event is free and open to the public.
“Hokes Medical Arts” is the latest traveling exhibition created by Beauvais Lyons, a University of Tennessee art professor known for creating various mock-documentary projects. In the past he has fabricated and documented imaginary cultures such as the Apasht and the Aazud, created “The George and Helen Spelvin Folk Art Collection," a collection of contemporary folk art, and was instrumental in bringing a centaur specimen to the library at the University of Tennessee as a permanent display. For this project Lyons has created a collection of anatomical prints and drawings from the Hokes (pronounced “hoax”) Archives. This series of elaborate prints and drawings appear to be authentic depictions of abnormal human anatomy. Instead, they are works of fiction that comment on science and the representation of the body.
These prints are also an outgrowth of his interest in the history and visual conventions of scientific illustration. His style in these works is informed by 19th Century color lithography and reflects his appreciation for the vernacular print. The works also strives to walk a line between ideas of beauty and the grotesque. The critic Arthur Blade has stated that these works “serve as a bridge between the scholarship of Dr. Gray and the whimsy of Dr. Seuss.”
Theories about the body have been a subject that numerous artists have addressed in recent decades. Barbara Stafford’s 1991 book Body Criticism: Imaging the Unseen in Enlightenment Art and Medicine (MIT Press) offers a history of medical and anatomical science that has evolved since the advent of the Enlightenment. Feminism called into question issues of the body as a contested territory in relation to ideas of beauty and personal liberty. Given the size of the medical profession as a percent of the gross national product of industrialized nations, and our increased cultural attention to health and beauty, the subject has other levels of meaning and interest.

For more information on this exhibition, contact Jane Nodine, professor of art and director of the University Gallery at USC Upstate, at (864) 503-5838 or jnodine@uscupstate.edu. For information on the Hokes Archives, visit http://web.utk.edu/~blyons.


Event Time(s):
Starts Ends
9/28/2007 10/26/2007

Location:
Venue: Humanities & Performing Arts Center
Room: University Gallery - 1st Floor

Event Type:
Art Gallery Showing

Semester:
Fall

Open to:
All (Cost: Free)

Contact Info:
Jane Nodine
(864) 503-5838