In all of LIFE, and in this instance of medical art, when compatible PARTS are optimally POSITIONED, they can CONNECT, BOND and FUNCTION together as an art piece. As a consequence, there is a surprising and sometimes miraculous result limited only by TIME.
This is the beginning and the end of the story of The Common Vein and its application to medical art.
When the PARTS of the body BOND
There is a surprising and miraculous result!!
A picture speaks a thousand words……
but in order for one to be able to read the words one has to have knowledge (AD)
Some of us learn through the written word… some of us learn through pictures.
Art in medicine explores the beauty of form and function and hopes to use art and images to help educate in a slightly different way ….
ARTISTIC ORGANS
Artistic Organs is the use of art and abstraction to characterize the nature of the organs.
Dr Davidoff who is an educator uses conceptual art to teach through images and imagery providing artistic similes and frameworks for learning. This is particularly helpful and appealing to right brained individuals.
“Scaffolding of the Brain” is a stick like image and shows a long semi-horizontal vector and a shorter almost vertical vector, each divided into colors to represent the major parts of the brain. “Inverted C’s” shows how the many major structures are organized around these vectors.
“Scaffolding of the Heart” shows a Christian cross lying on its side dividing the heart into the blue deoxygenated right side, and red oxygenated left side with the septa rendered in different colors and the organization of nerves and vessels around the cross. As parts are added to the cross it takes the form of a house with 4 major rooms- upper atria and lower ventricles. The right atrial appendage looks like Snoopy’s nose and the left atrial appendage like a crooked finger or the map of South America. “Football Ventricle” describes the shape of the left and ‘Triangle Ventricle” describes the shape of the right pumping chamber. “Right Hand Right Heart” shows the direction of flow of the right heart. “Maid of the Misty Heart” shows the well known boat of Niagra falls sailing under the spray of the mitral valve, while “Walking Carina” displays the angle of the carina similar to the angle of the crotch as a person walks.
“Jungle Chest” shows the ribs rendered in bright colors of the birds and trees of the jungle, ‘Berries of the Chest”, and “Emphysema” show the alveoli in health and disease. “Chest of Fruit” displays the heart as a red pepper, the lungs as grapes and the ribs as segments of banana skin. “Ginkgo Airways” shows the tree in colorful bloom abstracted from the airways of the lungs reminiscent of the shape of the leaf. “Cedars by the River” uses the sternum to create the trunk and branches of the tree.
‘Bunny in the Liver”, “Rudolph Reindeer in the Liver” and “The Swallow in the Liver” reflect animals that have similar appearance to the portal and hepatic veins. “Clockwork Purple” shows the metabolic factory working tirelessly around the clock. ‘Jello Liver” describes the consistency of the organ.
‘Archimedes Screw and the Valves of Heister” is an innovative image suggesting the mechanism of flow in the cystic duct, “Flamenco Dancer” is a gallbladder extraction, while “Gallstones” shows a slither of banana, green pepper seeds and a green pepper. “Strawberry Gallbladder” uses the greens of the pepper and the red of the strawberry to exemplify the disorder. “Gallbladder Cancer” uses the attachment of the placenta to the wall of the green pepper to reflect invasive growth. “Phrygian Cap Gallbladder ” is the story of a primitive race defending freedom and liberty now expressed as a revolutionary icon, on US seal of the senate and army and the coat of arms of many Latin American countries. “Sangoma” is a Zulu witchdoctor who uses the gallbladder to exemplify receiving and giving life.
A revolver, banana, parrot, woodpecker and seahorse are used to describe the unusual shape of the pancreas. “Coming out” shows the pancreas in effusive and joyful color. “The Pancreas at Night”, is dark and reflects the time of day, and “Pancreas with Buddies” shows this shy organ with new found friends of the splenic vein and renal vein. “Spleen at Work” uses a da Vinci innovation to show the churning factory of the spleen taking in and recycling old red cells. “God Why Me?” describes the lot of the colon
“Tubes in the Body” is a collection of the variety of tubes that transport an array of fluids and solids around the body. “Turbulence” and “Laminar” describe the types of flow. “Moods of the Belly Button” is a collage of color that portrays a variety of emotions, “Seasons in the Body” defines the cycles of time. “Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble” shows a witch creating the magic male brew in the prostate. “Building Passions Over a Glass of Wine” shows the uterus and prostate on a date. “Later that Evening” reveals ecstatic union. ‘Goodbye My Children’ is the “maternal” hope and prayer of the prostate as she sends her load of sperm with food reserves on their journey and race to the ovum. “Free at Last” is the cry of the new found freedom of the male seed as they seek independence.
The artist uses stories and concepts that are common tales in history, culture, literature, food, nature, to enlighten the student of medicine and the lay person. In so doing the organs who are hidden inside, are brought outside to life.
Basic diseases reflected and represented in art include infection (viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic), growth disorders (benign disease, cancer, malignancy), mechanical disorders (obstruction), trauma, metabolic diseases (diabetes, thyroid disorders, gallstones, kidney stones), circulatory disorders, (hemorrhage, infarction, embolic disease, thrombosis, ischemia, stroke, vascular malformations, shock, heart failure, hypertension, aneurysmal disease, dissection atherosclerosis), immune disease (autoimmune, immune deficiency, collagen vascular disease), inherited disorders (diabetes), and congenital diseases.
Both normal and abnormal structures have innate beauty. Special stains used in microscopic evaluation create colorful and striking patterns. Specific colors and shapes are used imaginatively to express themes, moods, emotions or nature scenes for example. Colors can reflect disease or states of mood. Black reflects melanoma (skin malignancy), acanthosis nigricans (diabetes, paraneoplastic syndrome), aspergillus niger (black mold), and black bile (melancholy) . Inflammations and hot situations are red. Blue suggests depression. Death is cold and white. Green is immature. Rendering the different shades with color and contrast create aesthetically appealing images. X-ray and CT scans use X-ray attenuation, MRI uses electromagnetic forces, and ultrasound uses high frequency sound to create contrast differences between structures and between normal and diseased structures. The ability to reconstruct the images in 3D further deepens the potential of diagnostic imaging to construct art pieces.
Artistic renderings of symptoms such as pain can be helpful to overcome language barriers and communication disorders. Some types of pain are pathognomonic for certain disorders and if accurately described enable precise diagnosis and therefore appropriate therapy. Pain has many variations, and can be described as sharp, dull, burning, searing, pressure, “elephant on my chest,†lightning, pricking stabbing, or colicky.
Descriptors of morphological changes in disease have used foods, animals, and inanimate objects to describe the alteration in size, shape or character allowing the artist free reign of creative license. Strawberry gallbladder, berry aneurysm, apple core cancer, scalloping of vertebra, eggshell calcification (sarcoidosis), linguine sign (degenerated breast implants), donut sign, popcorn calcification (hamartoma), honeycomb lung (pulmonary fibrosis), and omental cake (peritoneal metastases) are just a few examples relating to food. Fish mouth deformity, cauda equina (horse tail) syndrome, cancer (crab), swan neck deformity (rheumatoid arthritis), Scotty dog (for the evaluation of spondylolysis), beak sign (sigmoid volvulus), rat tail sign (achalasia), stag horn calculus (kidney stone), cobra head (ureterocele in the bladder) are examples relating to animals. Saber trachea (emphysema), target signs (metastases in the liver), water bottle stomach (linitis plastic of gastric carcinoma), water bottle sign (pericardial effusion), salt and pepper sign (skull in myeloma), goblet sign (ureteral carcinoma), pencil and cup sign (psoriatic arthritis) are among many other graphic descriptors that use common experience to describe radiological findings in disease. Categories in artinbiology.com such as “Food in the Body” and “Animals in the Body” contain examples of how the artist uses images and imagery to express these observations in the medical world.
Time and space have essential relevance in health and disease. Cancer cells lose all sense of time and the cells do not know when to die losing apoptotic ability. They also multiply very quickly and take up valuable space. Incubation period of infections, duration of symptoms, abnormal cyclical patterns and half life of drugs have relevance to diagnosis therapy and prognosis.
Correlates of disease in the body occur in our society. Congested highways are similar to congested blood vessels, resulting in slow flow and a buildup of fluid or traffic. A rebel in the community who occupies space without contributing to society and who has no regard for the welfare of the community is a cancer and harms everyone.
The immune system, like the police system, recognizes and impounds criminals. If weakened, the body is overrun by unwanted invaders. Acute pancreatitis is an act of chemical warfare on the surrounding structures. A snowstorm that results in power loss shares the devastating consequences of heart block caused by a failed electrical conduction system in the heart. A government that is not in touch with the people is like a brain that is not in touch with the organs. Disregard of the rights of the individual cells that make up the society of the organ leads to a weak organ. These medical examples are rich resources for artistic expression.
Medical art is the creative depiction of medicine, of diagnosis and treatment. Historically and culturally disease has had many faces, and the approach to the diagnosis and treatment has differed with the context of and knowledge of the time. Artinanatomy.com contains elements of the history of medicine and of cultural folklore, descriptors of morphological changes that reflect shapes of animals, foods, weapons, and inanimate objects, and art renderings of medical technology.
Basic diseases reflected and represented in art include infection (viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic), growth disorders (benign disease, cancer, malignancy), mechanical disorders (obstruction), trauma, metabolic diseases (diabetes, thyroid disorders, gallstones, kidney stones), circulatory disorders, (hemorrhage, infarction, embolic disease, thrombosis, ischemia, stroke, vascular malformations, shock, heart failure, hypertension, aneurysmal disease, dissection atherosclerosis), immune disease (autoimmune, immune deficiency, collagen vascular disease), inherited disorders (diabetes), and congenital diseases.
Both normal and abnormal structures have innate beauty. Special stains used in microscopic evaluation create colorful and striking patterns. Specific colors and shapes are used imaginatively to express themes, moods, emotions or nature scenes for example. Colors can reflect disease or states of mood. Black reflects melanoma (skin malignancy), acanthosis nigricans (diabetes, paraneoplastic syndrome), aspergillus niger (black mold), and black bile (melancholy) . Inflammations and hot situations are red. Blue suggests depression. Death is cold and white. Green is immature. Rendering the different shades with color and contrast create aesthetically appealing images. X-ray and CT scans use X-ray attenuation, MRI uses electromagnetic forces, and ultrasound uses high frequency sound to create contrast differences between structures and between normal and diseased structures. The ability to reconstruct the images in 3D further deepens the potential of diagnostic imaging to construct art pieces.
Artistic renderings of symptoms such as pain can be helpful to overcome language barriers and communication disorders. Some types of pain are pathognomonic for certain disorders and if accurately described enable precise diagnosis and therefore appropriate therapy. Pain has many variations, and can be described as sharp, dull, burning, searing, pressure, “elephant on my chest,” lightning, pricking stabbing, or colicky.
Descriptors of morphological changes in disease have used foods, animals, and inanimate objects to describe the alteration in size, shape or character allowing the artist free reign of creative license. Strawberry gallbladder, berry aneurysm, apple core cancer, scalloping of vertebra, eggshell calcification (sarcoidosis), linguine sign (degenerated breast implants), donut sign, popcorn calcification (hamartoma), honeycomb lung (pulmonary fibrosis), and omental cake (peritoneal metastases) are just a few examples relating to food. Fish mouth deformity, cauda equina (horse tail) syndrome, cancer (crab), swan neck deformity (rheumatoid arthritis), Scotty dog (for the evaluation of spondylolysis), beak sign (sigmoid volvulus), rat tail sign (achalasia), stag horn calculus (kidney stone), cobra head (ureterocele in the bladder) are examples relating to animals. Saber trachea (emphysema), target signs (metastases in the liver), water bottle stomach (linitis plastic of gastric carcinoma), water bottle sign (pericardial effusion), salt and pepper sign (skull in myeloma), goblet sign (ureteral carcinoma), pencil and cup sign (psoriatic arthritis) are among many other graphic descriptors that use common experience to describe radiological findings in disease. Categories in artinbiology.com such as “Food in the Body†and “Animals in the Body†contain examples of how the artist uses images and imagery to express these observations in the medical world.
Paul Klee Art and Nature
Gaudi Art and Nature