February 27, 2023
Sabine Danek
The unique organization RxART relies on the healing power of art, shapes and colors. It has already equipped more than 58 hospitals with it – and now inaugurated work in the Lucile Packard’s Children’s Hospital, Stanford.
The famous Hauser & Wirth gallery, with branches worldwide, is one of the sponsors of the non-profit New York organization RxART, which brings hospitals and artists together.
To date, RxART has implemented more than 58 projects in the USA, including an enchanting fairytale forest. The organization’s latest work has just been completed. For this, Rashid Johnson, celebrated for his post-black conceptual art, provided two locations in the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford in Palo Alto, California with his works. These are apparently small interventions, but with a great effect.
Escape pictures, as he calls them, which distract you and let you travel. For this purpose, he covered a lounge and three waiting rooms in the maternity ward with kaleidoscopic depictions of palm trees. In the two treatment rooms of the gastroenterology department there, however, in which around 18,000 patients are treated every year, he lets bright blue and boat-like motifs rock. Up on the walls, i.e. where you usually look during the treatment, you can lose yourself in the cheerful, dynamic brushstrokes.
“His captivating imagery will engage patients, distracting them from fear and pain and instead providing them with an uplifting and calming outlet to focus on,” said Diane Brown, Founder and President of RxART. Each RxART project is produced at no cost to the hospital and provides a fee for each commissioned artist.
*Translated from German to English