MEDICINE AND THE ARTS
My personal journey with the arts is based on a lifelong passion that seems to be genetically linked to both sides of my family . As a child growing up in Damascus , Syria , I enjoyed sketching and painting whenever I had a chance . During family trips to Europe and the Middle East , I was more interested in visiting historic monuments and museums and taking pictures of famous paintings and sculptures than going to amusement parks . This art interest had to go to sleep for nearly two decades as I embarked on a long and exhausting path of studying medicine in Syria and subsequently obtaining training in general surgery , cardiothoracic surgery and finally pediatric cardiac surgery in North America . A few years after starting my first job as a very busy pediatric cardiac surgeon , it became apparent to me that I needed to develop a hobby outside work . It seemed to me that the typical senior pediatric cardiac surgeon model is that of a very busy and well-established surgeon whose time is consumed by work and usually is too “ afraid ” to retire since he didn ’ t know any other way to live . This model didn ’ t agree with how I imagined my life and I wanted to make sure that after achieving my career ambitions and enjoying my number one hobby ( operating on children with congenital heart disease ), and when I feel that I want to retire , I would like to have an alternative life to fall back on . I cherish my time with my four daughters and love to travel , but I was looking for something that I greatly enjoy and could keep me busy for long hours . It was natural that my love of art awakened again , and I was determined to start experimenting with painting .
While I used to sketch and color as a child , I never received any formal teaching in the science of art . My very busy work schedule and my family obligations made it nearly impossible for me to attend art workshops to improve my art skills . In the era of the internet , we have access to countless videos and reading materials , and I tried to learn from those . However , I couldn ’ t maintain focus to have a pragmatic plan to learn art . At the end , I decided that I needed to just start doing it . I bought a few canvases and a bunch of colors and had an art project in my mind to accomplish . I definitely wanted to paint the type of art that I would like to buy , and that is expressionism and modern figurative abstract art .
In my first attempt , I had an idea of what I wanted to accomplish . After taking a go at it , it was obvious to me that I didn ’ t have the
figure 1
necessary skills to achieve the result that I had imagined ; however , I really liked my end-product and became determined to continue on this path . After a few more attempts , I adopted and developed my personal technique that I have been using in the past eight years .
One of my favorite artists has been Jackson Pollock who is an American painter and a major figure in abstract expressionism . He popularized the drip technique of pouring liquid household paint onto large horizontal surfaces . I became fascinated with his technique , however , I wanted to take it to another level and use the dripping technique to create various paintings styles that are not limited to abstract expressionism . I figured that surgeons have steady hands and that I could use my surgeon skills to create figurative abstract paintings using the dripping technique . To my surprise , my first two paintings came out better than I had imagined and that was a great motivation for me to continue with this adventure [ Figure 1 ]. I decided to further challenge myself and develop my technique while creating my own take on famous artworks . I began with painting my reflections of famous Pablo Picasso figurative paintings [ Figure 2 ] and evolved to painting my own modifications of impressionists ’ work using my developing paint dripping technique [ Figure 3 ].
After experimenting with copying famous art , I felt more comfortable applying this technique again in original paintings . At this stage , I had just moved from Emory University in Atlanta to the University of Louisville to assume the role of Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Norton Children ’ s Hospital . Some of my original paintings here involved some of the Louisville figures such as Muhammad Ali , Jennifer Lawrence and Erle Austin , who led the
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