For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability at The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

by Patricia Frischer

Simone Fattal, a Lebanese artist who describes “the tremendous toll of
warfare, exile, and violence on the human body and spirit.”

 

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego presents For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability on view from September 19, 2024 to February 2, 2025.

The premise of this large exhibition is simple. Let artists do what they do best and communicate about their experiences with disease, disability, and the diversity of treatments and services offered in the health industry. However, this took years of research and a mass of decision making. Aids, abortions, the American disability act, mental health facility closures, war on drugs movements, breast cancer research all touch on civil rights, antiwar, and women’s and gay liberation. We have chosen just a few of the works to illustrate the breadth of this exhibition and tempt you to spend some time (you have until Feb 2, 2025) to visit and revisit this exhibition.

Yvonne Rainer, still from the video from this famous dancer, of a hand dance
during recuperation and rehabilitation.  

Howardena Pindell used this method of sewing fragments of works together to help regain her memory, bring together fragments of her life after a car accident. 

Senga Nengudi,  a noted black feminist, created this liquid filled sculpture representing a human form draped over the rope to create a shape that appears like a body without a skeleton. 

Juanita McNeely battled cancer, a bad abortion and a spinal cord injury
depicted in the contorted figure in this large 7 panel image.

 Frank Moore was born with severe cerebral palsy that left him
unable to walk or talk. He attached a brush to a hard hat and used
that to paint and he gave himself the nickname unicorn.  (top right)

Ida Applebroog developed a series of intimate drawings while in hospital
after a severe depression and unable to speak. This aided her
communication to staff and helped in her recovery process

Beverly Buchanan switched from medical technology to do what she loved as an artist. She suffered from asthma and the side affects of steroids given to help her. This Medicine Woman is one of her largest creations. 

Emory Douglas was Minister of Culture of the Black Panthers and created these protest posters. The Black Panthers' social programs included free clinics and a push for research into sickle cell anemia. 

Judith Scott now quite a famous outsider artist, was institutionalized and separated from her twin sister very early in her life as a developmentally disabled person. She gathered scrapes of found objects around her to create these wrapped  shapes. 

Judith Scott

Liz Young had a car accident that left her paralyzed, thus the torture device element of this sculpture. 

Ray Navarro refusing to be seen as a victim of AIDS, used humor and sex to define his illness.

Hollis Sigler had breast cancer that spread though her body and the title of this work, I'd make a deal with the devil poses the question as a lesbian feminist, how much would you give up to be cured?

 

Niki de Saint Phalle suffered from frequent parental abuse, chronic lung problems, severe joint pain and swelling from rheumatoid arthritis. She moved to La Jolla, California, for its coastal-desert climate in 1994. "Whenever I met a disease, my art found a renewal."

Carlos Almarez, a Chicano artist,  created a series of car crash and aftermath paintings. 
He had a near-death experience  and was hospitalized with acute pancreatitis in 1971.  

Jerome Caja created these miniature reliquaries for friends of his that died from Aids. 

Bob Flanagan lived a life with cystic fibrosis, but surviving long enough to make fun of the inevitability of his own funeral. His face changes to your own as you near to pay your last respects.  

Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose, his partner

James Luna of Mexican and American Indian descent, created this symbolic AA meeting with parodies of famous poses in art. 

Sunaura Taylor has a disease that restricts her movements of her hands and arms. She was bullied and compared to an animal when young. In reaction, not only has she becomes a advocate for the disabled, but also for animal rights. 

Rina Banerjee is from India and in this work explores the path of the mosquito in spreading disease. 

Rina Banerjee, details of two-head mosquito

Sandie (Chun-Shan) Yi describes her Crip Couture as a manifesto to create disabled clothing for the pleasure of the wearer. 

Kiki Smith created these tapestries of skin samples from wax, gauze, shoe polish and pigment. 

Rigoberto Torres is the creator in plaster of this self portrait with his doctor. Severe asthma attacks affected his eye site and memory. 

King Cobra was one of those responsible for getting a statue removed of J Marion Sims who used black enslaved women for experiments without their consent and with out anesthetics. Her sculptures are examples of  embellishments modifying the female body.  

Guadalupe Maravilla combined western healing methods with indigenous therapeutic practices to heal himself creating retablos to give thanks for curing his colon cancer. 

Guadalupe Maravilla detail of above

Kaari Upson creates what looks like a mattress, but is completely silicon and paint. She calls these sculptures "artifacts of disease" and they were started after her diagnosis with breast cancer. 

Christine Sun Kim, a deaf artist, creates this sign language piece in the museum atrium. Photo by Maurice Hewitt.  

Organized by Senior Curator Jill Dawsey, Ph.D. and Associate Curator Isabel Casso, this  is PST ART’s largest presentation by square footage this year. It is arranged chronologically from the 1960s to contemporary times of COVID with 80 artists spread over 7 rooms of the museum. Surprisingly the grant from the Getty which supported this show was started well before COVID-19 and the pandemic hit the world.

 Jill Dawsey,

A very nice touch is the collection of more seating spread throughout the gallery space with red pillow to accommodate sore feet and bad backs!

Other Participating Artists:

Laura Aguilar, Ron Athey, Nayland Blake, Barbara Bloom, Gregg Bordowitz, John Boskovich, Morris Broderson, Lisa Bufano, Patty Chang, Tee Corinne, Moyra Davey, Zeinabu irene Davis, Jay DeFeo, Emory Douglas, Angela Ellsworth and TT Takemoto, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Pippa Garner, Nan Goldin, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Milford Graves, Joseph Grigely, Anna Halprin, Barbara Hammer, Ester Hernandez, David Hockney, Camille Holvoet, Tishan Hsu, Kim Jones,  Stephen Lapthisophon, Liz Larner, Carolyn Lazard, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Riva Lehrer, Simone Leigh, Zoe Leonard, Fred Lonidier, Park McArthur, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Mundo Meza, Frank C. Moore,  Alison O’Daniel, Pauline Oliveros, Carmen Papalia, Pope.L, Katherine Sherwood, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, P. Staff, Liza Sylvestre, Joey Terrill,  Mary Ann Unger, Catherine Wagner, Charles White, Hannah Wilke, David Wojnarowicz, Martin Wong, Richard Yarde, and Constantine Zavitsanos

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego: For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability is part of PST  (Pacific Standard Time): Art and Science Collide projects that we are covering this month.  PST is an  initiative of the Getty Foundation with more than 60 exhibitions on this year’s theme in southern California with 818 artists participating. (Of course, you know SDVAN did it first in SD with the DNA of Creativity back in 2014!)

Other exhibitions to watch for in this column are:

A Wondrous Exhibition in Balboa Park Picked RAW Peeled by Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.
San Diego Museum of Art: Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World  on view to Jan 25, 2025  

Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park Picked RAW Peeled by Patricia Frischer
Mingei International Museum:  Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo on view to March 16 2025.

For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
on view from September 19, 2024 to February 2, 2025.
700 Prospect St., La Jolla, CA 92037
Thurs—Sat, 11 AM—7 PM,  Sunday, 11 AM—5 PM  Monday—Wednesday, Closed
All second Sundays and third Thursdays of the month offer free admission.