In 2015, author, psychiatrist and life-coach Dr. Keith Ablow launched Project Prescription, turning his attention to motivational art as a way of helping people connect with the world and embrace their personal power.
“The start of the artwork was prompted by my having clients who seemed to need something handed to them—like a prescription—but not for medicine,” Dr. Ablow said. “They needed ‘prescriptions’ to think deeply about certain topics. They needed ‘prescriptions’ to remember how courageous and compassionate they could be. So, I started writing them out. Then, I realized that the prescriptions could affect people beyond the walls of my office, and the art was born."
Dr. Keith Ablow, a leading psychiatrist and New York Times best-selling author, has recently entered the world of fine art, creating handwritten prescriptions printed on archival paper affixed to aluminum that often use irony to underscore larger issues of excess in modern culture. Affected by the 2016 New York state law requiring all prescriptions to be filled electronically, Ablow began repurposing the original prescription pads, turning them into art that intends to" make people think or move them to action." His blown-up works highlight America's obsession with prescriptions, and the tendency of psychiatrists to over-prescribe and under-talk in the digital age.
Dr. Keith Ablow is a New York Times bestselling author and one of the most famous psychiatrists in the world. When
New York State did away with paper prescriptions, insisting they be sent electronically to pharmacies, Dr. Ablow believed
that part of the art of medicine was being destroyed. Patients who got hard-copy prescriptions got more than slips of paper. They got the signed strategies of their doctors to hold in their hands. In every facet of life, in fact, Dr. Ablow sees the intrusion of technology eroding our relationships. His ceramic plate prescriptions are his answer to the rush to dispense with the art of medicine and with the art of relating to others. They are treasured possessions of those who have purchased them, enjoy displaying them and feel connected to the artist by owning them.
