The HMRI Art Series, launched in 2006, is a celebration of our region’s leading researchers. Each year an established local artist will be commissioned to create an artwork that celebrates the work of the HMRI Researcher of the Year.

Loyal supporters of HMRI including members of the Foundation Gold Circle, Foundation Silver Circle, Foundation Circle and Top 200 program receive a limited edition print in recognition of their support. The original artwork is auctioned at the annual HMRI Ball, providing a prestigious acquisition for local collectors.

View the previous HMRI Art Series here.

2011 Art Series - Cyanosis
The HMRI 2011 Art Series was inspired by the work of Professor Paul Foster, an international leader in asthma and allergy research. 2011 Art Series Artist, Dr Annemarie Murland, reflects on this inspiration:

Cyanosis is a work of art made in response to the research of Dr Paul Foster. As researcher of the year, 2010, Dr Foster’s investigation in the development of allergic and chronic disease and its impact on lung function was the impetus for communicating a visual response.

Personal and critical perspectives related to chronic lung disease, medical research and the traditions of painting shape this work. The subject of Paul’s research resonated deeply with me as my mother suffered with emphysema and died of lung cancer at age sixty-six. Given this personal experience, it was with great homage that I sought to deliberate how one could fuse the personal with the critical as a visual concept that resulted in a work of art.

The stretcher on which the canvas is overlaid is the first point of contact between artist and materials. The construction and proportions of the stretcher signals conceptually the notion of the body. The scale of Cyanosis is meant to relate directly to the body in order for the viewer to absorb the painting with not only the eyes but with their whole body. A sense of embodiment, a shared felt-experience was my ultimate intention.

Developing a narrative of this nature, where science brushes up against phenomenology is approached through a personal painting methodology. A micro network of pathways is constructed creating tiny grid-like systems that weave the paint into a macro formation. By employing an approach that is multifactorial, the surface of the canvas is broken down into a traditional fore, mid and background formation. An emphasis of the mid ground penetrates one at eye level and in returning the gaze of the viewer the painting enters the body.

Presence and absence is a dichotomy that exists in this work through the drama of colour relationships. Colour as energy is present in the pulsating blue that ironically indicates a sense of breathlessness that is reinforced by the engulfing abyss. Hinting at diseased states of being the containment of the blue colour field within the surrounding blackness collectively communicates a state of stasis.

Colour, form and line, the fundamental elements of painting are the tools with which science is deliberated in the work, Cyanosis. A fusion of histories, personal and critical, foretells allegories that are transient in nature. A philosophical and conceptual approach has thus been employed to honour and recognise the contribution of Dr Paul Foster’s research to medical science.

This limited edition print is presented to a loyal supporter of HMRI. The 2011 HMRI Art Series is supported by Chris and Shirley Piggott, Dr Annemarie Murland, Classic Framing and Memorabilia, and NCP.

L-R: Andrew, Shirley and Chris Piggott, with Paul and Kim Foster, standing with Cyanosis.