Week Four - Medicine and Art

Week Four - Medicine and Art

The intersection between medicine and art is long-standing, but after this week’s material, I finally understand its depth. Professor Vesna’s lectures this week were particularly interesting to me because of the clear personal connection her work has to the topic. I am by no means an expert in the medical field, so seeing the countless ways that medicine has progressed and reflected on itself was fascinating. Introducing artistic response to the subject furthered my enjoyment and curiosity.

"Bifurication, pierced leaf" is one of
Laramee's many pieces.

An example of Emily Watson's work.

To address the broad intersection between art and science, Professor Vesna provided Eve Andree Laramee as a supplemental artist to research. Laramee’s work investigates the overlap of artistic exploration and scientific investigation. Her pieces are not limited to medicine, but ensure that a reflection of the human experience is of the utmost importance. While looking through her online portfolio, I found that Laramee’s art has a unique quality that underlines the similarities of art and science, rather than examining connections or differences.

Jeweler and metal artist Emily Watson is one of Professor Vesna’s examples that have a specific focus on the human body and anatomy’s role in the making of art. According to Watson’s online biography, her work is inspired mainly by geography and the human body. In the jewelry displaced on the website, Watson’s work has a clear preference towards the visual representation of scientific ideas rather than a response to them. Her jewelry makes the topics of science that can feel distant and unrelatable into works of art that are designed to be an intimate experience with the consumer.

A few of the genetic mutants already
 featured in the X-Men firanchise.

The two artists previously mentioned work in a gallery setting, and for the most part, with a limited audience. Work that establishes connects art and medicine on a massive scale, however, operates within different limitations. Movies and TV use art to promote a very particular reputation of medicine. In the X-Men movies, reality is stretched and manipulated significantly to accommodate for the circumstances of a comic book universe. The limitations and abilities of medicine aren’t the most accurate, but the narrative is meant to reflect an exaggerated version of current public opinion to genetic research. TV hospital dramas also create a theatrical image of the medical community, but at least are grounded in some degree of authenticity. Either way, the two use art as a way of elevating a part of science that rarely is seen as an art.

Works Cited

Finch, Anonymous. "The Genetics of X-Men." Darwin's Finch. Darwin's Finch, 15 Dec. 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Hill, Kyle. "The Genetics Needed to Make X-Men." Nerdist - Science. Nerdist, 23 May 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Kirzner, Amanda. "'Grey's Anatomy' vs. Real-life Residency: You Already Know How This Turns out." The DO. The DO, 05 May 2016. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Laramee, Eve Andree. "Resume." Eve Andree Laramee. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.

Watson, Emily. "Portfolio." Emily Watson | Metal & Enamel Jewelry | Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2017.