In this opalescent Dividose painting by Beverly Fishman, we see a full realization of Fishman’s complex and multifaceted practice. In the work, two partial forms—one abstracted from half of a pain pill, and another abstracted from a fourth of a depression pill—coalesce with a form abstracted from an opioid. All three forms contain so-called “missing doses,” areas that have been cut out to create a void, into which reflected color can flow. In addition to Fishman’s deft statement about the relationship between these three conditions—depression, pain, and opioid addiction—the work is also visually stunning, with more than a dozen colors of highly-reflective urethane paint relating with each other across multiple levels.

Fishman unabashedly mobilizes her work to make critical statements about humanity’s relationship with the pharmaceutical industrial complex. Yet, in addition to the attention she gives to the vital social component that drives her subject matter, Fishman also infuses a vast assortment of formal aesthetic concerns into her paintings. In this piece, we are offered a master’s course on how shadow, light, and relationships between adjoining colors affect our perception of hue. Hans Hofmann’s theory of “push pull” is also at work as darker and lighter hues compete for foreground and background. We are also treated to the phenomena of reflected color that fills the empty spaces created by Fishman’s so-called “missing doses.” These elegant voids bring to mind the philosophies of the Light and Space Movement, literally creating spaces for contemplation and transcendence.

Rife with these, and so many other references to Modernist and Post-Modernist history, Fishman’s work brings humanity’s relationship to art as much into focus as its relationship to pharmaceuticals, suggesting that one way or another we are compelled to keep chasing after a chemical sublime.