“Our culture’s relationship to medicine and science is complex. I’m in the unknown. Can abstraction be political and socially relevant? These are things I’ve always thought were important in my work.”
From the outset of a four decade career, Beverly Fishman has centered her work around the body, probing abstract investigations of disease, identity, and medicine. Since 1999, her oeuvre has propelled towards the latter, delving into the promises of pharmaceuticals as the means for a cure. Fishman positions her sculptural paintings within the concept of polypharmacy—the prescription of multiple medicines to one individual. Glowing fluorescent and smooth matte forms correspond to specific pills as Fishman expertly illustrates the measured precision of an individual’s unique prescription.
Fishman’s use of urethane paint on wood lures viewers toward her floating structures; their edges bevel towards the wall, reflecting the neon-painted undersides and creating an artificial glow that mimics a physical light. Both her innate sensibility for color and the sheer scale of the works demand attention that further provokes an interrogation surrounding one’s relationship to the body and its current environment.