X-rays may not seem the likeliest of artistic mediums, but let’s be honest. Despite potentially morbid diagnoses and comparisons to Where’s Waldo? or Rorschach tests, X-ray prints possess a distinctive aesthetic that can mesmerize even folk who don’t frequent the uniquely fantastic Melrose Boulevard curio-seller, Necromance. Beyond the otherworldly photographic effect, x-rays are laced with an ineffable aura of awesome. After all, they let us see through and inside things. It thus seems like the most likely of art mediums using technology more advanced than paint brushes and film cameras.
Enter Dr. Paula Fontaine, a podiatric surgeon and artist, with computer wizard Joseph Moisan. Through their aptly named Radiant Art Studios, they use a medical x-ray machine – along with ultra-violet and other spectra not visible to the human eye – to produce unique imagery that peers into shells, invertebrates, plants, and even telephones. While they produce limited-edition fine art prints priced in the $150 to $200 range, their offerings consist largely of very affordable pendants, clocks, glass coasters, sun catchers, and more.
One pendant, with their Blue Plate Shells print, was kindly made available to me for review purposes. It’s a beautiful, good quality mother-of-pearl pendant with a 45mm diameter and a 1mm sterling chain, attractively priced at $36.
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My wife served as the delighted test subject, and she reported receiving many compliments for what turned out to be a strong accent piece. No surprise: It’s a wonderful jewel, proof there still is room in the world to surprise and delight with unusually imaginative artistry. Best of all, it is art available to everyone, not simply collectors with pocket books that exert their own gravity fields.
To learn more, I interviewed Paula and Joseph via eMail.
How did you meet and decide to become partners in art?
We met when Joe opened up a computer repair shop in the town where I practice medicine. I hired him to take care of the computers in my medical practice. I have been a practicing physician for about 16 years, and I was thrilled to have someone local who could service my computer network. Joe would frequently come to my office to troubleshoot and repair computer issues. Over time we became friends. He would comment on how interesting it must be to have my own x-ray machine. He inquired as to whether I ever had x-rayed anything other than body parts (I had not). He convinced me to meet him one weekend afternoon to try out x-raying interesting items such as shells and light bulbs. I did not know it at the time, but he had planned to use the images to create office art as a Christmas gift to me. Once he revealed the images, I fell in love with the natural beauty of the sea shells, combined with color enhancements done by Joe. I decided to hang the art in my office, and also to try my own hand at working with x-ray images since I also am an artist. Our office art received much praise from my staff and from patients. At that point we decided to partner up and do art shows together… the rest is history.
What is your collaborative process?
We almost always do our x-raying together. We generally spend several hours at a time in the lead-lined room (wearing lead aprons, of course!), trying new items to see how they will image. We play with different compositions and bounce ideas off of each other. Once the raw x-rays have been taken, we might collaborate on color enhancements and compositions. Or we might work separately on the colorization process.
How do you select objects to x-ray? What do you do to achieve your colorful final results?
We get inspiration from the world around us! We love to experiment with x-raying both organic and inorganic subjects. We sometimes are commissioned to x-ray a piece of equipment, e.g., a tattoo machine, or a hair clipper to make custom art. We also have been asked to do corporate art using our own images, or to create custom images based on a customer's specifications. Our images get their color based on what inspires at the time we x-ray them. In some cases the colors can be very unexpected. We use a variety of techniques to add color to our imagery.
Your art could easily fit into the fine art world of gallery exhibits, yet you chose to orient your pieces towards the general public. What drove your decision? How did you come to pursue a diversified merchandising approach to distributing your art?
Our art careers and goals are a work in progress. We did not fully anticipate the incredibly positive reception we have had to our imagery. We started out showing our fine art prints at local art shows. We quickly realized the public very much enjoyed our images. We always had sold our art in the form of fine art prints. However, we wanted to offer other formats at a variety of price points so more people could afford to enjoy it. We never get tired of creating new pieces. We currently have work hanging in private homes, restaurants, medical offices and hospitals, and we have done a number of local gallery exhibits. We are working with various representatives to bring our work into galleries nationwide where it can be displayed as oversized prints in its full glory.
What are your ambitions for Radiant Arts' future?
We want to continue to share our art with the world. We embrace opportunities to do this. We love that our art makes people smile and ask “How did you do that? “
For more about Radiant Art Studios, visit their website at www.radiantartstudios.com. Many thanks to Paula and Joseph for their time and the review sample.
Frédérik Sisa is the Page's Assistant Editor and resident arts, entertainment, and culture critic. He invites you to visit his blog, Ink & Ashes, and join him on Twitter as he figures out this whole tweeting business.
