Some Art I Liked: Five Minutes on Bev Fishman

Bev Fishman, Untitled (Pain, 3@ High Blood Pressure, 1/4 Tab of Depression) 2022

(Above: Untitled (Pain, 3@ High Blood Pressure, 1/4 Tab of Depression), 2022, Beverly Fishman, Urethane paint on wood, 44 x 98 x 2 in) Click to enlarge.

TL;DR:

• Artist Status: Beverly (Bev) Fishman is a renowned and established painter and sculptor whose extensive career has focused on merging art and science.

• Price: Her large acrylic relief works and sculptures sell from $40k and up.

• Where Can I See her Work?: She has a new exhibition at Jessica Silverman Gallery (San Francisco), from September 12 - November 2, 2024.

Bev Fishman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1955. She earned her BFA from Philadelphia College of Art and her MFA from Yale University; she now lives and works in Detroit, Michigan.

Her Style

Bev Fishman is best known for her signature works that blend vibrant colors with the clinical, almost sterile shapes of pharmaceutical drugs. She creates luminescent, geometric relief paintings that are both poppy and radiant. However, a deeper look at their familiar structures challenges viewers to look beyond the surface, asking them to reflect on why the shapes are so seductive.

Her process begins with deep research into the cultural impact of pharmaceuticals, using diagrams, pill shapes, and medical imagery as a foundation for her ideas. She selects specific drugs based on their familiarity or their marketed solutions. In the work above, she references polypharmacy—the prescription of multiple medicines to one individual—by connecting the pill shapes of drugs for pain, high blood pressure, and depression. These combinations include complete and partial shapes to represent whole and partial doses. Her works begin as drawings or collages, where she carefully selects specific color combinations. Bev then uses materials like UV-cured acrylic or urethane automotive paint to create high-gloss, strikingly smooth surfaces. (The use of automotive paint also feels connected to her Detroit roots.)

(Above left: Detail of Bev’s piece. Notice the inner neon paintwork giving the piece an ethereal glow. Above right: a picture of the work showing overall scale) Click to enlarge.

Bev’s work is labor-intensive. Her precision in cutting these wood pieces to replicate the exact shapes of mass-manufactured pills used to distinguish individual medications. This specificity adds to the visual impact of the work: in the detail of the piece above, you can see fluorescent colors perfectly applied against hard edges. When viewed from a distance, the saturated colors reflect off the wall, making the piece glow naturally.

(Above left: Focus, Awareness, Relief, 2024, Beverly Fishman, Urethane paint on wood, 43 x 44 in; Above right: close-up detail of Focus, Awareness, Relief. Courtesy: Jessica Silverman Gallery) Click to enlarge.

Contemporary Context

Blowing up the scale of these pills from their generic, neutral look into bright, bold, and large abstract pieces reflects the artist's commentary on the promises made by the pharmaceutical industry. The technicolor hues are seductive and pleasing, but the titles of Bev’s pieces bring us back to reality—pain, depression—prompting viewers to reconsider their relationship with medicine and technology.

Bev’s work aligns with contemporary discussions on technology, health, and the commodification of wellness. In the 1990s, her I.D. series combined the look of stars and nebulae with that of cells, connecting the foundation of human life to the universe. This exploration led her down the path of medicine, focusing on pills and drugs that modify and "repair" those very cells.

(Above left: Breathe, 2020, Beverly Fishman, Metallic urethane on wood, 36 x 46 x 6 in.; Above right: Breathe at scale)

The artist is influenced by both abstract and Pop Art movements. The sculpture above, seemingly an abstract representation of a trazodone hydrochloride pill, a drug used to treat depression. Bev’s use of color and simple organic shapes recalls some of the work of Barbara Hepworth and Ellsworth Kelly. While Ellsworth’s colors take on more organic forms, Bev’s color patterns are often geometric and hard-edged, reflecting the manufactured quality of modern technology and medical design. Her focus on pill shapes and vibrant colors adds a critical commentary on the impact of these drugs on life, creating a fun tension between attraction and critique.

(Above left: Green Obama Altered State, 2010, Beverly Fishman, Hand-poured resin and phosphorescent pigment, 12 x 9 x 1 in. Above right: Bev’s other small pieces from her ecstasy pill series. Courtesy: Jessica Silverman Gallery) Click to enlarge

Artists like Damien Hirst, known for his use of medical imagery, and Jeff Koons, with his pop culture-tinged polished surfaces, may also share some elements with the artist. However, Bev’s work delves deeper into the social narratives surrounding the effects of drugs, not just their commodification. In the works above, she recreates the look of actual Ecstasy tablets sold in the 2010s. Why did the drug makers choose to feature Obama’s face or Bart Simpson as pill designs? I’m assuming it speaks to the ‘good vibes’ each figure conjured for the Molly user, and a reflection on the societal values and the capitalistic verve of Ecstasy pill makers.

Impact

Bev Fishman has been the focus of shows in major venues such as the Broad Art Museum (MI) and the Toledo Museum of Art. She is also a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, a National Academy of Design Inductee, and a National Endowment for the Arts Grantee.

Her pieces have been featured in dozens of gallery and museum exhibitions around the world, including at Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, CO; and Cranbrook Museum of Art, MI among others. Her work is included in the collections of the MacArthur Foundation, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Chrysler Museum of Art, and many others.

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