From the sixth century BCE to modern times, pharmacology has been esteemed, both for the pragmatic purpose of healing the body and for its more mystical, alchemical aspects. The physical setting of the pharmacy has long been intrinsic to the fabric of the largest cities and the smallest villages, but it is easy to equate its contemporary pervasiveness with banality, and even easier to discount it as a fertile subject for art.
PhotoRx refutes such notions by highlighting a surprising collection of one hundred works, mostly photographs, dating from 1850 to the present. The diverse range of artists includes Berenice Abbott, Eugène Atget, Harry Callahan, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Damien Hirst, Irving Penn, Gordon Parks, Taryn Simon, and Zoe Strauss, among others.
