A Superb Conversation with Don Hershman
Courtesy of artist
Don Hershman is an acclaimed Surgeon and Figurative Artist living and working in San Francisco. Don’s artwork displays a certain intensity and drive to recreate the people, objects, and emotions around and within him to create an experience that inspires each viewer. Through joyful paintings and drawings, Don uses color, style, and composition to express his passion and humor vividly. Last year, his latest exhibit was dedicated to Victor Arimondi at the Salomon Arts Gallery in NYC, entitled “Donald and Victor, Under the Influence,” and the group exhibit entitled “Botanicals” at the Radian Gallery, San Francisco, CA. His upcoming shows for 2022 will be at the “Modern Design Expo” group exhibit in Palm Springs, CA, and the Art Love Gallery, group exhibit Provincetown, MA. I had the pleasure and honor of asking Don what medical benefits he has found from doing art, how art can help address societal issues, and the most crucial life lesson he has learned since becoming an artist. Don is represented by Salomon Gallery NYC.
UZOMAH: How is holding a surgical instrument different from holding a pen or brush?
DON: A brush and scalpel have obvious differences in their function or purpose. Yet, when the drawing or painting demands an extended period of dexterity and/or concentration, similarities do exist. For example, while performing surgery or painting, I will move past a certain threshold where the merging of concentration, dexterity, and performance all become fluid. It is a kind of Zen-like state. This experience, whether we are talking about the brush or the scalpel, took me many years of experience to achieve. On the other hand, there are existential factors that make them different. With the scalpel, there are very strict time constraints, and your canvas is an actual human being.
U: Can you discuss your latest exhibit and how the late Victor Arimondi inspired it?
D: Back in the ’80s, when I was just starting my medical career, Victor had come across some anatomical drawings I had made while I was in school. I had always found memorizing spatial relationships of anatomical structures difficult, so I would meticulously draw them, to visualize. When he inadvertently discovered them, he not only encouraged me but implored me to develop and exercise my drawing skills. That said, all 21 paintings of the NY exhibit were produced in the shutdown for the coronavirus. This made me reflective of the AIDS pandemic that Victor and I lived through together. And in 2001, exactly 20 years ago to the date of the NY show, Victor lost his life to this horrible disease. Once I completed the work, I decided to dedicate the show to him by curating his photography to compliment my work done in quarantine. It was a very emotional show and resonated well with the New York art scene.
Table with Vase and Shadow, 2019 Silence Series #5 Acrylic and pencil on wood panel 24” x 18” x 2” Juried Exhibition Selection - de Young Open
U: How do you balance being a surgeon and an artist?
D: I remain both a physician and artist. I’ve not given up one for the other, because both fulfill me, and, I believe, complement each other. That is the most crucial lesson. That I did not have to choose one over the other. What makes me a skilled and productive artist, also makes me a better doctor, and vice versa. In recent years, my art career has begun to flourish, and naturally, I have shifted, dedicating more time to my art. It has been my personal journey.
U: How does art help you address societal issues, both personal and public?
D: I grew up in NYC in a neighborhood of immigrants. I went to public schools that were completely integrated, and I consider this one of the most important gifts of my childhood and adolescence. My work as a physician has kept that pipeline open to people of all races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. This has segued into my art. I like to think of my art as transcendent, with the ability to speak to the soul of any human individual and to somehow heal.
Woman with Shadow, 2020 Silence series #1 Acrylic and pencil on wood panel
24" x 20" x 2"
U: Did you discover any fixations you didn’t know you had since pursuing art?
D: Once I reach a certain stage of a painting in its development, I become obsessed. This is completely unique to my experience as an artist. It sounds almost cliché. The process of creating art possesses me. I wake up in the middle of the night imagining the smallest details. And it’s happening more and more. This experience, compounded with the current momentum of my career as an artist, is a clear sign that my art career is on the trajectory to dominate.
551 Gallery Storefront 1983, 2021 D&V series Acrylic and pencil on wood panel
24” x 30” x 1.5”
U: Has the pandemic produced or provided any advantages to your art practice? If so, how?
D: I believe the pandemic did enhance my creativity.
Shelter-in-place provided an unexpected kind of solitude, more introspection, and for me, a painful reminder of the AIDS pandemic which I had, for the most part, repressed. My dear friend and partner, famed photographer Victor Arimondi fell victim to this disease. The pain and stigmatism of this period returned, and I began to finally process this pain into 21 paintings. In May of 2021, these paintings were selected by Gigi Salomon, owner of the Salomon Arts
Gallery in NYC, for a show that I dedicated to him, entitled “Donald and Victor, Under the Influence”.
Zebra Head, 2020 Silence series Acrylic and pencil on wood panel
16" x 16" x 2"
U: What are some medical benefits you have found from doing art?
D: During the actual act of painting, I’m often able to experience both mental and physical advantages that parallels meditation. I can feel my heart slowing down and my body relaxes as if endorphins are released.
We are living at a particular time where the day-to-day atmosphere feels quite saturated with input that we must continuously process and react to. My mind and body benefit from this reprieve.
Regeneration #6, 2021 Regeneration series Acrylic and pencil on wood panel
30” x 24” x 1.5”
U: How does art make a moment or emotion feel present both for the artist and for those who view the piece of art?
D: When the viewer is drawn in, looks closer, and interacts with your painting, it is a symbiotic interaction that can be quite intimate. Most often, it is fleeting, yet has the power to potentially influence both parties. To have another individual experience intellectual fascination or become emotionally moved by your work is ultimately what one aspires to achieve as an artist.
U: How has being a practicing artist changed how you view other artists?
D: I am more in touch with their struggle to achieve recognition. For most of us, we want our voice heard. We want appreciation. We want the economic rewards to reflect our struggle. Of course, many famous artists never knew of their posthumous recognition. I do so appreciate whatever praise or recognition I’ve received. It is precious. I cherish every second. But in the end, it must remain the simple joy of creation and completion of the painting. That is what keeps things pure. That is the magic of being an artist.
For more information about Don’s artwork, please visit his site. Please also follow him on Instagram and like him on Facebook.
