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Prof. Salvest installs artwork at Memphis Brooks Museum Professor John Salvest, Art, recently installed three works of art, "Consumo Ergo Sum," "Smoke Free (2004)," and "Seize the Day (2010)" at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, 934 Poplar Avenue in Overton Park, Memphis. Salvest's exhibition is on view through September 12. "Consumo Ergo Sum," a United States map created from plastic bottle caps, serves as visual commentary on consumerist society.

Installed in the museum's first floor Kraft Gallery, the installation consists of thousands of plastic bottle caps that form a U.S. map measuring 4 inches by 168 inches by 96 inches. The title of the work, which translates as “I consume, therefore I am,” addresses both thetemporality of materialism and our nation’s obsession with mass consumption. "Consumo Ergo Sum" is flanked by two additional works by Salvest, "Smoke Free (2004)," an American flag created from cigarette butts, and "Seize the Day (2010)," a medicine cabinet filled with a mosaic of brightly-hued pain pills.

Previous examples of Salvest’s work have been exhibited at the Brooks, including, most recently, a series of photographs that were included in a May 2010 exhibition of Tunisian mosaics. For details, call the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art at (901) 544-6200, visit the museum online, visit the Brooks blog online, or see the NewsPage release.