I have a piece in a show opening this week at the Portland bookstore Reading Frenzy. The theme is “Forget Me Not” which owner Chloe Eudaly describes as “a tribute show ~ think memento moris ~ to people, places or things that are dearly departed”.
In keeping with the theme, I decided to commemorate someone who was already departed when I met him- an anonymous medical cadaver that I sketched as part of an anatomy class I took at the New York Academy of Art in the early 1980s. This particular cadaver was something of a celebrity at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where he was primarily used as a training tool for medical students. Nearly seven feet tall and powerfully muscled, “Goliath” was such an outstanding specimen that he was held over an extra year in the anatomy lab. The anatomy instructor, Sal Montano, told us that he had been a professional wrestler.
For my piece in the show, I took one of my favorite drawings, a study of an arm, and did a watercolor version of it. I have also scanned some of my favorite cadaver drawings and put up a folder of them at the Comics Lifestyle website. For unknown reasons, a number of them are drawn in colored ballpoint. This cartoon gives some idea of the setup at these sessions; Sal Montano is shown with his colleague Alfonso Solimene.
Forget Me Not
Memento Mori Group Show
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7th, 6PM
(Don’t look for me at the opening- I have another event in Seattle)
Reading Frenzy
921 SW Oak St. ~ Portland, Ore 97205