HURLEY MEDICAL CENTER
WILLIAM WEGMAN
CITY/STATE
Flint, MI
LOCATION IN HOSPITAL
Pediatric Trauma Center and Burn Unit
INSTALL DATE
2018
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ABOUT THE INSTALLATION
In 2018, RxART tackled the organization’s first project in the state of Michigan through a collaboration with William Wegman. For this installation, the artist’s joyful photographs of his Weimaraners were hung in the corridors and waiting room of the Pediatric Trauma Center and Burn Unit at Hurley Medical Center. Pictured throughout the facility, and numbering 22 in total, are Wegman’s first dog, Fay Ray; her puppies; as well as the artist’s more recent canine collaborators, Flo and Topper. Typical of Wegman, these portraits display wit, humor, and tenderness, infusing otherwise drab medical spaces with color and play.
This project was made possible by the generous support of Betsee Isenberg and Tom Atencio.
ABOUT THE HOSPITAL
Hurley Medical Center is home to the region’s only Level I Trauma Center and Level II Pediatric Trauma Center, both verified by the American College of Surgeons. It also hosts one of just six specialized Burn Units in the state, offering comprehensive burn care from injury through recovery.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
William Wegman (b. 1943, Holyoke, MA) is a painter and photographer most known for his humorous photographic portraits of his Weimaraner dogs, a practice that began with his first dog, Man Ray, in 1970 and has since expanded to include Man Ray’s successor, Man Ray, and her multiple offspring. He dresses the dogs in costumes and props and places them in a variety of settings, sometimes making references to other moments in art history. The artist lives and works between New York and Maine.
Wegman’s work is in the collection of many museums including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. His works have also been shown in numerous books, advertisements, and television programs such as Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live. He is represented by Lisa Sette Gallery and Sperone Westwater.