You Won’t Feel A Thing, 1998, Oil on Canvas, 74 x 76 inches
If I Touch You Here Does That Feel Normal, 1998, Oil on Canvas, 74 x 76 inches
Case Histories, 1998, Oil on Canvas, 74 x 76 inches
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Untitled, 1998, Oil on Canvas, 74 x 76 inches
Untitled, 1998, Oil on Canvas, 74 x 76 inches
These paintings arise from my work as a language teacher and contact with medical training that my partner, an overseas doctor was undertaking in the UK. The paintings make use of short texts lifted from a training manual listing appropriate language for bedside manner. The texts document familiar but impersonal words of concern and kindness: “You won’t feel a thing”, “Does it feel the same on both sides?” – language not far removed from modernist critique of American Abstract Expressionism. The colours are those of the packaging of Gaviscon indigestion tablets.
Nick Ferguson 1998