Hospitals usually aren’t known for high-class art, but cardiologist John Abrams is trying to change that.
For about 20 years, the UNM Hospital has provided space in its hallways on four floors for artists to show their work, Abrams said.
The hospital recently named the gallery after Abrams to honor his dedication to the gallery, which has exhibited more than 100 shows.
Communication and Journalism professor Miguel Gandert said he was the first artist to display his art in the hospital gallery about 20 years ago, before he was a professor.
Gandert now has a show of black and white photography prints up at UNMH.
“One of the great things for me was that before I was a professor I was a struggling artist. The hospital gave people like me a viable place to show work, and serious work,” he said. “The beauty of this hospital is that we have this changing gallery where we get to see a lot of different kinds of art and different artists.”
Abrams said having art in the hospital has had a positive impact on patients because many of them don’t have the opportunity to go to art galleries.
“There is a school of thought that goes along with alternative medicine folks that suggests paintings or beautiful things are able to improve the mood and that makes people feel they are respected,” Abrams said. “But we haven’t tried to measure it.
But my measure is people who stop and look at the painting even though they might not be headed for the gallery. That’s what I feel is a successful approach to the community.”
Gandert said his exhibition fits right in when it comes to showing off New Mexico’s culture to patients.
“A lot of the clientele of the hospital are people who come from these different communities,” he said. “This is a New Mexico hospital, so why not show art about New Mexico?”
Abrams said he and another hospital employee came up with the idea for the gallery and brought it to the attention of the hospital administrative staff.
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“Many hospitals have art up on the walls but most of it isn’t fancy art, or at least it’s not art that you would buy,” he said.
The hospital supported the initiative to have art in the hallways at the outset and have continued to support it throughout the years, Abrams said.
“(Bill Johnson), who was the head administrator at the time, gave us a good budget of about $10,000, and it’s gotten to the point now where we have a full-time arts director,” he said. “We have a surprisingly positive effect on the institution because lots of people who don’t look at art now get to see it.”
Gandert said the current photos at the hospital gallery are images he used in a book called Nuevo México Profundo (Profoundly New Mexico) in 2000.
“I’ve actually had more people who have seen it here and commented than in the original place that we hung it,” he said. “People know to come here if they want to look at good art.”
*“Sacred and Secular”
Photographs by Miguel Gandert
Fifth Floor of UNMH
Through Nov. 20*
