Two Mad Docs

Yesterday we went to see 'Two Mad Docs', an exhibition in little gallery tucked under the arches of Loughborough Junction Station. The Red Gate Gallery is an intimate space. The exhibition consists of eight canvases and 19 photographs. The canvases are by Nora Rahmen, all painted using just her fingers. Subjects deal with balance and connectivity. Using no more than two or three colours, they are dramatic and interesting.

The photographs are by hand surgeon Vaikunthan Rajaratnam. These are not for the squeamish! Admittedly, the almost-overpowering smell of the freshly painted walls might have contributed to the stomach-churning effect they had on me. There is an element of fascination in seeing the delicacy of nerves and tendons. It also gave a good sense of the skill needed in performing hand surgery.

The title 'Two Mad Docs' is a misnomer. There is nothing mad about the work on show here, except perhaps the price list for the photographs: at £115, I suspect that a photograph of a 'small cut on the hand of a chef' showing tendon and nerve damage is going to be a hard sell. A few of the photographs are very artistic and have an aesthetic appeal, but most look like they belong in a text book. That's not to say that they don't belong in an art exhibition -- it's a nice rendering of the multiple meanings of 'art'.

As the blurb says, these doctors spend much of their waking hours 'caring for their patients and with little time and opportunity for creativity'. Being able to put on an exhibition, however small, is a real achievement. It's good to see the value of creativity being recognised.