NEW YORK, NY.- RxART will unveil six new artist commissions at pediatric hospitals around the country, from this fall 2019 through spring 2020. Championing a holistic model of care, RxART partners with medical facilities and leading contemporary artists to create site-specific interventions, installations, and works of art, introducing beauty, humor, and comfort into once sterile and intimidating spaces. Starting this fall with the completion of unique wallpaper designs by Derrick Adams for six treatment rooms at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, through the installation of a 207-foot-long mural by Nicolas Party and launch of Urs Fischer-designed FIGS pajamas at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), the projects of the upcoming season demonstrate the depth, range, and impact of the nonprofit’s work.

Fall 2019 will also feature the publication of Between the Lines: An RxART Coloring Book by Contemporary Artists, Volume 7, produced biennially by RxART. With an exciting collection of drawings by dozens of contemporary artists, including Keith Haring, Martin Creed, and Maira Kalman, among others, the coloring book is donated to hospitals nationwide.

Since its founding in 2000 by former gallerist and curator Diane Brown, RxART has completed nearly 50 projects in hospitals across 18 cities in the U.S. From paintings, murals, and coloring books, to CT Scan wraps, privacy curtains, and hospital-grade pajamas, designed by such artists as Jonas Wood, Urs Fischer, Jeff Koons, and Rob Pruitt, RxART projects support the psychological and emotional health of pediatric patients, their families, caregivers, and medical teams. RxART projects are realized at no cost to the hospitals and provide artists with a modest honorarium, in recognition of their priceless contributions.

“Bringing the work of incredible artists to children at a moment when they vitally need inspiration is a great privilege,” states founder Diane Brown. “After almost 20 years of RxART, we now realize the impact these projects have on children, as well as their caretakers, and are so thrilled to complete this next slate of projects in high performing hospitals across the U.S. We are so thankful to the hospital leadership and staff and the collaborating artists for their participation and willingness to improve the healthcare experience for all involved.”

Additional details on forthcoming projects follow below:

Between the Lines: An RxART Coloring Book by Contemporary Artists, Volume 7
September 2019
This September, RxART will release their 7th biennial artist-designed coloring book, Between the Lines: An RxART Coloring Book by Contemporary Artists, Volume 7. Featuring a cover design and colorful, interactive sticker set by the late Keith Haring, this edition includes contributions from artists Gina Beavers, Claudia Comte, David Shrigley, Tavares Strachan, and Philip Taaffe, amongst others. Made possible through the generous sponsorship of Clark’s Botanicals, Volume 7 will be sustainably produced. RxART has donated more than 115,000 coloring books to children in hospitals since 2005. The coloring books provide pediatric patients of all ages the opportunity to express their creativity and learn more about contemporary art. The RxART Coloring Book is also sold at select locations across the U.S., including the Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, MOCA Los Angeles, Museum of Modern Art, and Printed Matter to raise funds for future projects.

Derrick Adams: Wallpaper for Six Treatment Rooms
Pediatric Emergency Department at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, New York City
October 2019
Derrick Adams is designing wallpaper for six treatment rooms in the Pediatric Emergency Department at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem. The Pediatric Emergency Department services more than 16,000 ill and injured infants, children, and adolescents annually. In operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, medical providers use the treatment rooms to perform examinations and provide treatments and procedures. This will be RxART's second collaboration with the hospital, following the 2019 installation of a Keith Haring wall decal in the center’s waiting room.

Derrick Adams (b. 1970) is a multidisciplinary New York-based artist working in performance, video, sound, sculpture, collage, painting, and drawing. His practice focuses on the fragmentation and manipulation of structure and surface, exploring identity.

Jonas Wood: Privacy Curtains
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s National Health System, Washington, DC
November 2019
In his first collaboration with RxART, Jonas Wood is designing privacy curtains with bold colors and bright graphics, creating a playful space and much needed respite from hospital activity for patients and their families. To be installed this November in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s National Health System in DC, one of the leading pediatric hospitals in the nation, this collaboration marks the first time RxART has worked with an artist to design privacy curtains, which are often the only barrier for patients from the bustling and crowded areas of the intensive care wing.

Jonas Wood (b. 1977) is a contemporary artist based in Los Angeles who uses painting, drawing, and printmaking to create bold, patterned graphic works that depict objects, interiors, plants and people. Translating the three-dimensional into flat color and line, Wood distorts scale and perspective in compositions that merge historical references with his everyday life.

Ann Craven: Wall Coverings
The Chadwick Center, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego
November 2019
Known for her bold portraits of the natural world that fuse nostalgic images and bright colors, Ann Craven is creating a site-specific mural for the lobby of The Chadwick Center, which specializes in the treatment of abused and traumatized children. Craven’s mural of sleepy panda bears will be situated at the entry point for families coming to the Center to receive care. Working with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network to ensure effective service, the Chadwick Center at Rady Children’s Hospital offers a range of programs to families and children that prevent, identify, and treat the effects of traumatic experiences.

Ann Craven (b. 1967) is a New York City-based painter who is known for her bold depictions of the natural world. Fascinated by birds, the moon, flowers, and animals, Craven creates brightly colored paintings drawn from personal observations that serve as a record of her life and practice.

Nicolas Party: Mural
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), Los Angeles
March 2020
Nicolas Party is creating a site-specific mural for the vast, 207-foot long corridor at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which provides nearly 16,000 surgeries annually to children of all ages. Traversed by children, parents, and healthcare providers daily as they head to the operating rooms, the hallway, with stark white walls and severe lighting, has long been a blight for patients and hospital staff. Party’s mural will transform the corridor with uplifting, vibrant, and poetic imagery.

In honor of this collaboration, Party is being recognized at the annual RxART PARTY, held on October 16, with the 2019 Inspiration Award.

Nicolas Party (b. 1980) is a multimedia artist based in New York City and Brussels. Party is best known for his color-saturated paintings, murals, and sculpture. Exploring the nature of representation, Party creates portraits, landscapes, and still lifes of everyday objects, in bright colors and graphic compositions.

Urs Fischer: Pajamas
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), Los Angeles
March 2020
Urs Fischer is designing hospital-grade pajamas for pediatric patients to wear during their hospital stay. Developed in partnership with FIGS medical apparel brand, the pajamas will feature a playful print and are made of antimicrobial, liquid repellent fabric, with plastic snaps that are safe for MRI machines and X-Rays, and have full back-coverage, so no child feels embarrassed or exposed during their course of treatment. Fischer previously collaborated with RxART to create wallpaper and ceiling designs for Cedars-Sinai’s Maxine Dunitz Children’s Health Center in Los Angeles.

Urs Fischer (b. 1973) is a New York City-based multimedia artist. Combining photography and sculpture, Fischer is best known for his large-scale sculptures and site-specific installations that distort scale and perception of everyday objects, creating an illusionistic and often humorous effect.

Nina Chanel Abney: Wall Coverings
The Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
May 2020
Nina Chanel Abney is designing vibrant, narrative wallpaper for the pediatric waiting room at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a leading center for ophthalmic care, serving more than 7,500 pediatric patients per year. Building on Abney’s history of making works of public art, her work for the Wilmer Eye Institute will combine representation and abstraction to create a mesmerizing composition for children and families to explore while they wait for care.

Nina Chanel Abney (b. 1982) is a multimedia artist based in New York City. Using collage, painting, drawing, and printmaking techniques, Abney creates large scale compositions, often public murals, that address pop culture and racial conflicts.