Pill Spill
Artist: Beverly Fishman (American, b. 1955)
Date: 2011
Dimensions:
Small pill: Diam (at center): 2 3/16 in. (5.6 cm); L: 6 3/8 in. (16.2 cm).
Larger pill: Diam (at center): 3 9/16 in. (9 cm); L: 10 3/8 in. (26.4 cm).
Medium: Hand-blown glass
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Gift of the artist
Object number: 2012.11A-B
Label Text:Beverly Fishman’s career has long centered on an exploration of the iconography of both legal and illegal pharmaceuticals. Her art examines how pharmaceuticals are branded, how we come to recognize a particular pill not by its name, but rather by its color, shape, and markings—like how we immediately know a Tylenol pill from Ibuprofen. Fishman quickly found inspiration in the medium of glass, focusing on creating a series of pills that brought together a wide range of colors and patterns.
These two pills are part of a larger series of 150 glass pill forms that Fishman made during her 2011 Guest Artist Pavilion Project (GAPP) residency at the Toledo Museum of Art. As seen in the illustration, the culminating project, Pill Spill, was installed in the cavity of TMA’s Glass Pavilion.
These two pills are part of a larger series of 150 glass pill forms that Fishman made during her 2011 Guest Artist Pavilion Project (GAPP) residency at the Toledo Museum of Art. As seen in the illustration, the culminating project, Pill Spill, was installed in the cavity of TMA’s Glass Pavilion.
DescriptionTwo capsule-shaped sculptures in various colors and patterns of transparent and opaque hand-blown glass, typically displayed on the floor as per their title, Pill Spill. Both capsules are differently colored and patterned on each half, divided by a visible seam much like an actual pill capsule: one half of the smaller pill is transparent turquoise, its other half vertically striped in yellow and orange; one half of the larger pill is an opaque pale blue/sea green, the tint of which darkens toward one end, its other half diagonally striped in black and white.
Two capsule-shaped sculptures in various colors and patterns of transparent and opaque, hand-blown glass, typically displayed on the floor as per their title, Pill Spill. Both capsules are differently colored and patterned on each half, divided by a visible seam much like an actual pill capsule: one half of the smaller pill is transparent turquoise, its other half vertically striped in yellow and orange; one half of the larger pill is an opaque pale blue/sea green, the tint of which darkens toward one end, its other half diagonally striped in black and white.
Two capsule-shaped sculptures in various colors and patterns of transparent and opaque, hand-blown glass, typically displayed on the floor as per their title, Pill Spill. Both capsules are differently colored and patterned on each half, divided by a visible seam much like an actual pill capsule: one half of the smaller pill is transparent turquoise, its other half vertically striped in yellow and orange; one half of the larger pill is an opaque pale blue/sea green, the tint of which darkens toward one end, its other half diagonally striped in black and white.
On view
In Collection(s)