"Hokes Medical Arts"

Planche 144

This traveling exhibit presents prints and drawings from the library of the Hokes Archives, which includes most of the scholarly graphics of Everitt Ormsby Hokes. Included are bookplates and preliminary drawings for English, American, French and German publications, many of which specialize in rare internal diseases, unusual alimentary conditions and anatomical anomalies.

The Hokes Archives is the creation of Beauvais Lyons. Beauvais earned his MFA from Arizona State University and holds a BFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Since 1985 he has taught at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. His one-person exhibitions have been presented at over 50 galleries and museums across the United States and abroad, and he has published articles in several scholarly journals. His prints are in the collections of several museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Artist’s Statement

As the Director of the Hokes Archives I have created academic parody in a variety of mediums for over 25 years. For much of this time I fabricated and documented imaginary cultures. More recently I have been interested in biography, folk art, medicine and zoology. I am committed to making art that engages other academic disciplines while also questioning their mythic narratives.