http://www.arnoldwklein.com/?p=1337
A post from Arnie titled "Art or Soup: How one collects art and artists." Dated October 7, 2012.
In her great one woman show "The search for signs of intelligent life in the universe" Lily Tomlin appears as a homeless person with a shopping cart holding a can of Campbell's Soup asking the audience "is this soup or is this art...soup or art."
As a freshman at Penn I remember the arrival of Andy Warhol together with Edith Sedgwick. They had come to introduce his Pop Art. Joan Kron (now one of the editors of Allure) had staged the show and to me it was revolutionary. With his philosophy "Everything is beautiful, Pop is everything" he took elements of everyday life and created art.
Later, during my undergraduate years I would study in a tower that overlooked the Alfred Newton Richard's Medical Building designed by Louie Kahn. It was not a traditional structure but perched on cement columns hung like an alien spacecraft over the campus. Later I would get to know this mighty wizard of design. Finally as I entered the great rotunda of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine the mighty image of the Agnew Clinic by Thomas Eakens, one of America's few indisputably great painters cast its intimidating gaze on me. Medical school was not the best of times for me (I lost my Father and brother). I went to Europe after my third year and had decided that psychiatry would be my specialty. Nevertheless, this would soon change. I still remember the moment. . I was both astonished and amazed by the singular ability of an English Dermatologists to diagnose a barbiturate overdose from visual patterns on the skin. Dermatology became a real possibility and ultimately a reality. I started my Dermatology Residency at Penn where I met the incredible mind of of Albert Kligman. Somewhere in everyone's life is a revolutionary individual who inspires you to be the better than you can. Professor Kligman was such a person for me. Nevertheless, the west coast still remained in my mind. During my internship in Los Angeles I found a degree of intellectual freedom
I had never experienced in the East. Also, the ambient light was visually stimulating. I still remember seeing the work of Ed Moses. He was profiled in Newsweek but to see his work in person with the artist was quite unique. I decided to transfer to UCLA to complete my training; little did I know that transferring residences was almost unheard of at that time. Furthermore I found UCLA Dermatology program to almost be a surgical specialty. I even dreamed one night they did appendectomies. I went on to become Chief Resident and published an article with the late great Victor Newcomber.
When I completed my residency Beverly Hills was the place the best doctors seemed to congregate.. While
I was told there was no room or young doctors and I would starve I beg and borrowed and finally found a 700 sq ft space in BH. I went from door to door introducing myself to anyone who would meet me and soon with the help of Retin-A I was fixing acne without light treatments or Voodoo . Soon I met Irene Dunne,Lana Turner,Loretta Young Henrty Fonda,Freddy Mercury, and eventually Popes,Presidents,Kings and real Queens. Certainly there were World Champion Athletes, a few Nobel Prize Winners (I have two in my family ) and many many more. It was through my relationship with Marcia Weisman (Norton Simon's Sister) I met the world of art (some of which were performers too!), Frank Gehry, Irving Penn, Ellsworth Kelly, Bob Graham, Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Herb Ritss, Eric Orr, Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein, Jenny Holzer, Angelo Donghia, Michael Taylor, Charles and Ray Eames, Rose Tarlow, George Nelson, Phillipe Starck, Marcel Wanders, Ron Ronzek, Cher, Carrie Fisher, Penny Marshall,Frank Pollaro ,Jennifer Jones Simon, Waldo Fernandez and many many others would revolutionize the way I looked at Art and Architecture. Soon my house was overflowing with art and furniture. I was a collector! I must admit it was truly the relationship with my dear friend John Baldessari (from whom sprung David Salle and Cyndi Sherman) that began in 1978 that would ultimately define my vision of the art world. Equally important was my cousin Lisa Lyon's relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe (his book" Lady") and Jean Michel Basquiat that dragged me further into the world of art. It seems just yesterday I was discussing with Jean Michel how his broken arm and splenectomy from a car accident had shaped his life. Milton Wexler also taught me an incredible lesson. Never charge a person of the arts but trade services with them. You too have become an artist at the level you practice medicine.
We are now in the 21st century and art and medicine have become profoundly similar. The best of each arises from human creativity. Medicine at its best is raised to an art form. Indeed, medicine often inspires creativity in artists as seen in the works of everyone from Leonardo da Vinci to Keith Haring. Dermatology has now become a field in which Minimally Invasive Aesthetic Enhancement has defined my existence since 1979. How strange it is to have developed something when it was a vocation and avocation at the same time. Many individuals put a value judgment on this and attack it in a manner similar to behavior of Savonarola's in Florence in the late 1400′s (the original "Bonfire of the Vanities)." In my article "Bonfire of the Wrinkles" I noted all too well how David Kessler had attempted at great cost to save the world from Breast Implants. As for my relationship with Carrie Fisher it really began at a party at Cher's birthday. Everyone greeted me that night with an air kiss but she put her arms around my neck and gave me a big long hug. Well she and I have been attached ever since.
Well, that was then and this is now. I have survived the Botox lawsuit, my nurse's marriage, and all those who have imitated and will imitate me." Most recently the loss of my dear friend Elizabeth Taylor and the horrific death of the treasured Michael Jackson has left me scared in many ways. To be needlessly and unfairly attacked by the sensationalistic media is something no one wants. Just remember what Mr. Jackson once told me, "Greed Kills." Mr. Jackson also showed me how to take vicious attacks and flip them into positive energy that further increases your ability and distance between you and your competitors;
this is how one becomes absolutely incomparable! In 2008 L'uomo Vogue named me one of the 10 best Architects in the world calling me '''a modern day Leonardo's DaVinci's whose work on the human structure stands out as one of his greatest accomplishments as his inventing scissors. His insight into the correct proportions of the human face is a testament to his genius as well as yours Dr Klein." Just remember what my friend Mr Lennon once said to me "love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it. " Now kiss whoever is next to you, give them a hug and realize what I long known the world will soon learn. As Albert Einstein once said
Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods. Well you have certainly have heard alot of lies about me lately but think. In 2007 I owned my homes, had no debt, had taken on the FDA, The Botox trial. And HIV .....
Arnold William Klein, MD
Professor of Dermatology and Medicine
The David Geffen School of Medicine.
