Gift of the Artist

"I am both an artist and a physician (anesthesiologist). My two fields intertwine to yield work that speaks from a special niche addressing issues of AIDS, mortality, and contemporary technology. I have created over ninety large-scale photo silkscreen-on-canvas paintings, showing images of the AIDS virus and red and white blood cells magnified thousands of times by the electron microscope. I believe as art intersects with the twenty-first century, our interaction with science will shape and expand our visual horizons. As a world of new images is revealed, our responsibility as artists is to draw upon them and make them available to a wider audience through our art.

Being a physician, the fragile nature of life is always foremost in my mind. Through various media, including painting, video, and installation, I deal with issues such as the AIDS epidemic and medical crisis. I was witness to the start of the AIDS epidemic both as a physician and an artist before the virus was isolated or even had a name. My work is serious in content and yet strives to present an aesthetic that is seductively beautiful, thereby engaging, educating, and moving my audience." --Carl Tandatnik artist statement, 2014

Bibliography

Fox, Ann M., Rosemary Gardner, Lia Newman, & David R. Wessner. Re/Presenting HIV/AIDS. Davidson, North Carolina: Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, 2014.

REVEAL DIGITAL: Representations of HIV/AIDS: Exhibition Synopsis | Co-curators: Ann Fox & Dave Wessner