Wednesday, 21 January 2026

Breaking Bad Art Gallery

                                          
The "main street", a large corridor that runs through the public area of hospitals, is often used for purposes auxiliary to the core medical mission of the institution. At Oxford's John Radcliffe, at the main street on Level 2, just inside the JRII main entrance, there has long been a public art gallery. It is officially called The Corridor Gallery, although it is in fact just a stretch of wall. The artworks often have a medical theme, although not always. The artists also decorate other parts of the unit. One recent exhibition is rather unusual; it appears to be based on the TV series Breaking Bad. This American serial has become one of the most popular and highly-acclaimed TV productions in history. It's a drama that mixes familial relationship and friendship with the conflict themes of the old Wild West. It centres on a school chemistry teacher called Walter White who is afflicted by a fatal disease. He dedicates the end of his life to securing his family's financial security, but in doing so resorts to organized crime. He uses his knowledge to produce synthetic narcotics. The paintings are not disturbing, in fact they are quite benign and even stylish. They are a form of still life. Their tone is what you'd need to show in a hospital. The artist, Claire Venables, is from Oxford and she sells prints and cards etc if you're interested, see: https://clairevenables.co.uk. These photos were taken for me by one of my "men on the inside". As always, I have protected his identity by sanitizing these images of all metadata, like I did previously, see: https://hpanwo-hpwa.blogspot.com/2024/12/jumpers-update.html. I had not heard of Breaking Bad until I was introduced to it by my friend from Newbury "AnotherBlonde", see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-secrets-of-newbury-2.html.

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