Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database

Perez, Jose and Spence, Wayman
Perez on Medicine: The Whimsical Art of Jose Perez

This unusual collection of contemporary art features full color prints of what might be termed comic doctor archetypes. Entitled by specialty, paintings feature doctors in a variety of incongruous settings that constitute fantastic anachronistic commentary on the situation of the doctor relative to different social groups or social expectations.

"The Internist," for instance, is represented as a modern female doctor in a medieval setting, commenting ironically on the various institutional pressures that come to bear upon women in the medical profession and expectations of the internist in particular. "The Pathologist" is featured getting his comeuppance as the doctor who usually has "the last word" in a confrontation with the figure of death--a skeleton straddling a Jungian snake among a horde of rats on the office floor. Each of the paintings is accompanied on the opposite page by a brief, but informative and insightful commentary by Spence.

The cartoon format of these colorful and lively paintings appeals immediately to the eye, but may belie their complexity as satirical comment on practices and prejudices in contemporary medicine. A unique and fascinating collection that might provide food for thought and discussion to doctors in training or practice.