Lisa Hoke: Pie In The Sky

The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is proud to present New York-based sculptor Lisa Hoke as the third artist in the museum’s Rotunda Projects series. Her installation Pie in the Sky, designed especially for the Brooks’ rotunda, will be completed Wednesday, October 25. Museum visitors are invited to watch Hoke create this dazzlingly colorful and richly textural abstract installation—of plastic cups, cardboard boxes, paper flyers, drink cartons, and molded Styrofoam, all suspended from the rotunda’s dome—beginning Wednesday, October 18. “This dynamic, colorful work from Ms. Hoke will dominate the space and greet visitors as they enter the Dunavant Rotunda,” said Executive Director Emily Ballew Neff. Hoke titled her over-the-top installation Pie in the Sky—reflecting both her aspirations for the work, as well as her fears of expecting too much out of it. This complex, free-form sculpture made of familiar materials combined in unexpected and provoking ways will activate the simple white walls, supports, and dome of the museum’s rotunda. “Our constant exposure to packaging, color, and ‘look at me, buy me’ messages gives us a sense of shared experience,” notes Hoke. “People will recognize their lives in this exhibit.” As Brooks curator Stanton Thomas, Ph.D. noted, “Hoke’s work invites the viewer to not just to drink in the brilliant hues and undulating forms, but to question the underlying appeal of the original objects—which are now transformed and elevated into components of an art work.” Hoke will participate in Café Conversations: Consumption & Conservation on Wednesday, October 18 at 6 p.m. She will give a brief talk about Pie in the Sky before participants move to the Café Brooks by Paradox where she and Keith Cole, Director of Wolf River Conservancy, will talk about consumer culture, sustainability, art, and the environment. A larger conversation between Hoke and site curator Stanton Thomas will take place Wednesday, October 25 in the Dorothy K. Hohenberg Auditorium at 7 p.m. Their conversation will explore the motivations and meaning of her work, and how Hoke’s art has evolved throughout her 30-year career. This event is free and open to the public.