THE RADIOLOGIST

(Oil on Canvas, 24" x 30", 61.5cm x 77cm)

Appropriately enough, the painting of the radiologist is mostly in black and white. But it's also a relatively simple scene, which is ironic because x-ray medicine has probably become more high-tech that any other field of medicine.

Notice the body language of the two figures in this painting. The doctor seems to intuitively sense that she should keep her explanation as simple as possible as she tells her little patient what's going on in her skeleton. The clutch that the patient has on her doctor-and her dependence on the doctor's skill-is not returned by the doctor, who has her right arm awkwardly behind her back, instead around the patient.

Perhaps Perez is trying to tell the viewer that, because radiologists often see very bad things going on inside the body before they are visible on the outside, they have a hard time letting themselves get close to their patients.

Studies in Pencil

Initial "A"

Radiologist and patient

Revealing

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Last updated: 8 May 1998