Quick Fix

Alexandra Karram’s Medicine Cabinet Series entitled “Quick Fix” is a satirical commentary on modern society’s over reliance on prescription medications. We are bombarded with advertisements from pharmaceutical companies, with constant television, radio and online digital marketing messages, all suggesting they have the cure for whatever is ailing us. We ignore all the warnings of possible dire side effects, and opt for the quick fix of simply swallowing a pill or taking a shot….even though we intuitively know that many of these ails can be successfully addressed by more holistic solutions such as lifestyle and behavior modifications.

Karram depicts this pervasive condition by creating individual pill bottles that contain ‘medicine’ to treat virtually all of life’s daily challenges. The bottles look like genuine scripts from pharmacies, each with descriptions of a ‘medical condition’ and names of patients and doctors that are very clever and humorous…but are a biting and sarcastic statement of the vice of the quick fix and instant gratification that we have become accustomed to seeking. The viewer’s initial reaction is likely laughter, and then the reality sinks in that most of us are guilty of this behavior. While funny and gratifying to view these works, the underlying statement is a serious indictment of how twisted this societal behavior has become.