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Cliff Colman
Artist's Website
Cliff Colman, Migraine?, 1990. © 2004 Cliff Colman (http://www.cliff.colman.artwork.cwc.net/I181.htm, February 6, 2003)
"I suffered migraine for a number of years before having it diagnosed. Since then (1989) I have become adept at spotting the early signs and either 'take avoiding action', or resort to medication. Consequently it is very rare for me nowadays to experience a full-blown migraine attack. I have only experienced the mildest of visual disturbances during an attack - the slight impression of a wave motion, e.g. the apparent undulation of floor surface." (Email to Klaus Podoll, March 2, 2003)
"As requested some notes on the painting 'Migraine?'. Whilst studying for my teaching degree I was asked to produce, as part of a graphics unit, an image which could be used as a magazine advert for a patent medicine. The advert had to include a face. The painting 'Migraine?' was produced as a response.
The central image is based on a pencil drawing from 1973 or 74. The head on fire, head like a tightly stretched balloon, and screaming images relate of course to the depths of a migraine. The use of 'angry' reds, to contrast with the 'calmer' greens, and the way the arms disappear into a sort of fog hopefully emphasise the way in which the pain in the head during a migraine attack becomes the sole focus of the victim's being.
The word 'Migraine?' is distorted and outlined with barbed marks - reflecting the physical clumsiness and hypersensitivity that accompany an attack. The 'I wish I was dead' phase seems to me an inevitable aspect of a full blown migraine - anything being preferable to the here and now of an attack. The phrase 'Knock it on the head' is another way of saying 'put an end to it', it is also usually employed in a light hearted manner. Thanatos is of course the greek word for death, but it also has echoes of the kind of names found on patent medicines of some decades ago." (Email to Klaus Podoll, October 5, 2003)
Author: Klaus Podoll
Last modification of this page: Wed. June 23. 2004
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Migraine Art 
Raymond H Carroll