When Lisa Hoke was in the early phases of her career, women weren’t always accepted in art spaces. She found herself looking to fellow female artists for inspiration, and her practice has since burgeoned into one of colorful installations and abstract sculptures born out of her continual fascination with gravity, movement and problem-solving.
“When I first started working in New York, there was still a lot of pushback against women in the art world. I always felt like I had to compete on a grand scale with the same kind of machismo as my fellow male artists,” she said. “As I started to see really strong women like Judy Pfaff and Ursula Von Rydingsvard, I realized that the really inspiring thing about New York is how you are rubbing shoulders with people you admire.” [...]
[...] Curated by Judy Barie, Susan and John Turben director of CVA Galleries, the exhibition features works by Lisa Hoke, Sarah Jacobs, Tiffany Calvert, Patti Warashina, Adero Willard and Judy Pfaff. It will run from June 28 to July 3, and the opening reception will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday in the Main Gallery of Strohl Art Center.
Pfaff’s legacy spans several decades and boasts numerous accolades, including the International Sculpture Center’s 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award. Her extensive work gives thought to the meaning and function of space and color. From elaborate installations to vivid print works, Pfaff traverses the contemporary world and dismantles long-held misconceptions of what female artistry looks like. According to her artist statement, Pfaff’s “urgent and ferocious need to labor for the visual and tactile is remarkable in an era where language dominates artistic activity.”
In contrast to the real-world material of Pfaff and Hoke’s pieces, Jacobs sifts through themes of existentialism with her maximalist and surrealist works. She utilizes oil paint, digital collages, assemblage and gold leaf, among other mediums, to tell her stories.
