Karen Stewart
Valeriana officialensis, 2019
Watercolour on Fine Art Papers and Fabriano
Series: The Anxiolytic Effect
The Anxiolytic Effect | ART AS MEDICINE This series of work is called “The Anxiolytic Effect” – an anxiolytic (also anti-panic or anti-anxiety agent) is a medication or other intervention...
The Anxiolytic Effect | ART AS MEDICINE This series of work is called “The Anxiolytic Effect” – an anxiolytic (also anti-panic or anti-anxiety agent) is a medication or other intervention that inhibits anxiety. All of the works in this series are named after the active ingredients in these medicines and substances that induce this effect. There are other substances that can also produce an anxiolytic effect and the work plays with this idea and poses the question of whether art can produce an Anxiolytic Effect. On the 5th January 2019, a friend of the artist ended his life. She had known him for 18 years. Their careers have followed a similar trajectory – both had busy freelance design businesses, worked for similar clients, started teaching design at a similar time and he was a provocative video artist. Stewart says she had no idea that he suffered from anxiety – none whatsoever – but those closer to him knew that this was part of him.
Exhibitions
Karen Stewart The Anxiolytic Effect ART AS MEDICINE, Design Joburg - Candice Berman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (24 – 25 May 2019)Literature
The Anxiolytic Effect | ART AS MEDICINE This series of work is called “The Anxiolytic Effect” – an anxiolytic (also anti-panic or anti-anxiety agent) is a medication or other intervention that inhibits anxiety. All of the works in this series are named after the active ingredients in these medicines and substances that induce this effect. There are other substances that can also produce an anxiolytic effect and the work plays with this idea and poses the question of whether art can produce an Anxiolytic Effect.On the 5th January 2019, a friend of the artist ended his life. She had known him for 18 years. Their careers have followed a similar trajectory – both had busy freelance design businesses, worked for similar clients, started teaching design at a similar time and he was a provocative video artist. Stewart says she had no idea that he suffered from anxiety – none whatsoever – but those closer to him knew that this was part of him.