Barium Swallow

Artist Katharine Dowson (London, England, born 1962)

Date1993

Mediumglass and pink water

ClassificationsSculptures

DimensionsOverall: Height: 99 cm, Width: 5.5 cm

AcquisitionPresented in 2000 by the Saatchi Collection through The National Art Collections Fund.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG013855

Keywords

Stomach

About MeThe vessels and tubing, which Dowson has created though glass blowing, resemble internal organs - lungs, stomachs, wombs and intestines. This particular work was created for the artist's fist solo exhibition in London in 1993 entitled Barium Meal. Barium Swallow visually relates to the peristalsis action in swallowing and with the Radiology images which are produced of that movement when a barium meal is swallowed. The act of creating the shape from a tube of Pyrex glass by blowing in and out further mirrors the peristalsis wave. In Dowson's work a pink fluorescent dye illuminates the fluid-filled canal. Although clearly alluding to this unpleasant medical practice the iridescent quality of the liquid, coupled by the brilliant shadows cast on the wall below give the work a magical quality.

For more information on the artist see:
www.katharine.dowson@virgin.net

More About Me

Collections Wall

By blowing in and out a tube of Pyrex glass, Dowson here mimics the peristalsis seen in a barium swallow, when waves of muscle action propel the contents down the oesophagus