Installation exploits the unique architecture of the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion

Beverly Fishman views her installation, Pill Spill, from outside the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion. photo: matthew biro.

On view through September 30th, Pill Spill (2010) by Beverly Fishman, fills the ethereal void between the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion’s voluptuous curved glass panels with a rainbow of over-sized glass pharmaceutical capsules, which range in size from 6 up to 15 inches. Strewn about the hollows between interior and exterior sheets of glass along the pavilion’s Parkwood Avenue side, the colorful hues are arranged like a candy but remain instantly recognizable as medical in nature. Fishman, head of the painting department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, frequently takes on the complex interaction between the body and technology in her work. Examining the anatomy of this particular building by the Pritzker Prize-winning SANAA architecture firm extends the terrain of her investigations.

Fishman developed the work during her residency, part of the Toldeo Museum’s Guest Artist Pavilion Project, and created her work with the assistance of the glass studio staff. Her work frequently mixes patterns and colors from the iconography of medical imaging and pharmaceutical branding. Here, the brightly colored pills are an alien presence that break the ghostly refraction of light that the architecture achieves through the double-layers of undulating glass. By creating this visual cascade at floor level, the pills become invaders of the space that take over the arteries of light that normally are clear and light-filled.

Fishman will give a presentation about her work in a panel discussion at the Museum’s GlasSalon on September 16th. In addition to her work, the artist will discuss her residency and experiences working with the curatorial staff and glass studio personnel.