Monika Kus-Picco

The Art of Medication

Kus-Picco exclusively uses expired pharmaceutical and medical materials to create large-scale, intensely colorful works that evoke cosmic phenomena and biochemical processes. Triggered by her mother's early Alzheimer’s diagnosis, she uses her art to question conventional color theories. “Red and yellow don’t necessarily make orange – they can also result in green,” she explains. Through her unique technique, she draws on interdisciplinary approaches, using pigments intended to alter our lives in the context of depression, anxiety, and dementia.

With her work, Kus-Picco seeks to draw attention to the widespread use of colorful medication and the still slowly emerging field of gender-specific medicine. She visualizes invisible processes and the mechanisms of various drugs, exploring the connections between social systems, gender, and regional-cultural differences in medicine. Her work also reflects on individual life stories and personal destinies.

The exhibition presents a contrast between Western conventional medicine and the traditional natural practices of Indigenous populations in Brazil and other countries.

Monika Kus-Picco

Monika Kus-Picco, born in Vienna in 1973, is an Austrian artist with Brazilian roots. She lives and works in Vienna, Lower Austria, and Rio de Janeiro.