Beverly Fishman | The Dayton Contemporary

CURE

May 5 – Jul 22, 2022

THE DR. ROBERT L. BRANDT, JR. GALLERY

Beverly Fishman is an American painter and sculptor whose work explores science, medicine, and the body. Her large, exquisitely crafted object-paintings feature titles like Untitled (Epilepsy, Pain, Chronic Pain, Opiate Dependence), derived from geometric arrangements of tablets, capsules, and pills; prescribed cocktails for the ailments outlined parenthetically in each work’s title. 

Fishman imbues her glossy, exuberant pieces with the hidden implication of what lurks beneath the façade of pharmaceutical culture: the manipulative effect of color on the psyche and the penchant of these colors to mark mental connections between consumer and drug. 

Working with this knowledge, Fishman uses a calming palette of dusty roses, soft lilacs, cool blues, and pale sands; mixing in the occasional shock of lime green, nuclear yellow, and traffic-cone orange. The subdued tones conjure the darker side effects of the drugs and the resplendent, yet minimal nature of her paintings mirror the promises of Western medicine.