EDUCATION

Mt. San Jacinto College Art Gallery Presents ‘Sketches from the ICU’

Sketches by Oh Young-Jun. The exhibit will launch online Monday, August 17

The Art Gallery will host a special Zoom conversation about the exhibition from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27. Oh Young-Jun is a trained artist-turnednurse who volunteered to work in the ICU as COVID-19 peaked in his home

city of Daegu, South Korea. During his time in the ICU treating COVID19 patients, Oh used his talents as

The Art Gallery will host a special Zoom conversation about the exhibition from 1 to 2 p.m. Thursday, August 27. Image courtesy of Mt. San Jacinto College

an artist to capture scenes from the hospital. Through his goggled eyes and gloved hands, we are compelled to recognize the care and humanity of the medical workers who are the heroes of the pandemic. His draw ings depict the actions of the nurses and doctors with incredible intimacy and care.

While attending art school, Oh studied Korean painting, with a focus on landscape. His shift to capturing the life of his ICU challenged him to draw the figures and the medical equipment with its tubes, wires and screens. Oh’s style reveals the quickness of a courtroom reporter documenting the drama as it unfolds. In one drawing, a nurse can be seen with a full coverall hazmat-style suit adjusting an IV rack with half a dozen IV bags hanging on it. Oh highlights the hands of the worker by lightly coloring the green latex gloves that the nurse is wearing. The only other color in the scene is the small slit of flesh where the nurse's mask ends and the face shield reveals the eyes. In each of these drawings, you notice that the little area of color where the eyes are peering out of the PPE is the only color in the scenes. This shows the humanity of the nurses and doctors shining through.

For more information , please visit www.msjc.edu/argallery or con tact Art Professor Jknuth@msjc.edu . John Knuth at