Note from the Eds: ARTERI is an open and inclusive platform. Hooray! If you want to submit something to us we put it up. It’s as simple as that. The following is an account of a talk that recently took place at Shalini Ganendra Fine Art and forms part of a series of lectures the gallery has programmed. This piece of text was written and sent to us by an intern from the gallery. We always support writing, criticality and exposure of art and culture and are happy to provide you with more information about this project but we wanted to be clear about the origin of this piece.

(EM)

SIR ROY CALNE

Art, Surgery & Transplantation

VISION CULTURE LECTURE @ SGFA , January 11, 2010

Exquisitely captivating. There’s simply no other word that captured the minds when Sir Roy Calne was out sharing his thoughts and pieces in his talk,  ART SURGERY & TRANSPLANTATION that recently took place for the inaugural launch of the The Vision Culture Lectures at Shalini Ganendra Fine Arts (SGFA).

This talk showed that the unconventional combinations, such as medicine and art, can result in thoughtful and beautifully crafted creations which express deep emotions and relationships.  In this case, Sir Roy Calne documented patient recovery through paintings, building trust and rapport with patients while doing so. An esteemed transplant surgeon by profession, he was the Professor of Surgery at Cambridge University for many years.  He has won numerous international awards for medicine and has been twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. Additionally, he is an artist of note, who has shown internationally, including at the Barbican Gallery, The Royal Academy and The National Portrait Gallery.

Sir Roy developed a deep interest in art in childhood, and decided to pursue his artistic endeavors in tandem with a medical career. His big break happened in 1988 when he became friends with John Bellany, a notable Scottish painter, who was also a liver transplant patient.  Bellany shared invaluable artistic advice and insights with Sir Roy. He described his inspirations and techniques, focusing on a variety of subjects:  patients, friends, colleagues, landscapes, street scenes, still lifes and others.  He works on paper, board, canvas and sculpts in bronze.

Sir Roy also highlighted the works of other artists whose works thematically address the relationships between physicians and patients, offering an irony between the high tech world of modern medicine and the subjective intensity of creating art. Of course, we should also note that surgery is an art too. But, really, how unusual to find such a combination. The talk enlightened me on how two areas could so engagingly overlap. More stimulation for making art happen!

The Vision Culture Lectures present an innovative community initiative by SGFA to have exceptional talents present and discuss their topics of expertise at lectures and workshops in Malaysia. The Series promotes regular international cultural exchange and discourse, seeking to inform and engage local audiences on a variety of multi- disciplinary topics and really wants to engage Malaysian audiences. This talk had full house – but I was disappointed to see so few artists.  I would urge them to come with friends for the next session.  There is a lot to learn out there.

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Dahlia Dhaima is completing her studies in Mass Communication, majoring in PR. She is currently on internship with Shalini Ganendra Fine Art. She enjoys theater, indie stuff, visual arts, sociology, interfaith conversations, nature and many other enriching topics. She is extremely optimistic and sees every situation as a process of learning and sharing. She hopes to meet more people from the arts scene, activists of any kind, hippies, academicians, travelers, foodies or anyone with overflowing positive vibes.