“Art In Infectious Diseases” Redux: More Paintings by Ana Velez, MD

January 14th, 2019

 

 

Dr. Ana Velez is an accomplished artist and University of South Florida Associate Professor and Infectious Diseases physician who has practiced at Moffitt Cancer Center among immunocompromised patients since 2007. Her set of paintings, entitled, “Art in Infectious Diseases,” was published on our web site last April to an extremely warm reception from our IDPodcast audience. We received many requests for a follow up to her initial set of works. Dr. Velez has decided to expand her focus to both medical and non-medical classical themes in this collection of works. Enjoy her paintings!

Below is more of her artwork each with an accompanying legend. Please click each picture to link to a larger version.

 

 

 

TITLE:

The Little Prince

TECHNIQUE:

Knife painting

Acrylic on canvas

INTERPRETATION:

This painting is inspired from the famous novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It illustrates the life, passion and color that the rose has brought to the little prince’s life.

 

 

 

 

 

TITLE:

The Wave

TECHNIQUE:

Knife painting

Acrylic on canvas

INTERPRETATION:

This painting illustrates the passion, movement, and force of a giant wave during sunset.

From far away it gives a surrealistic view of an eye.

 

 

 

 

TITLE:

The Dream of the Horse

TECHNIQUE:

Knife painting

Acrylic on canvas

INTERPRETATION:

This painting represents the dream of a horse. He is kept in captivity hoping to go back to the wilderness. A colorful sunset of emotions expresses his dream.

 

 

TITLE:

HIV virus

TECHNIQUE:

Knife painting

Acrylic on canvas

INTERPRETATION:

HIV virus is an RNA virus that belongs to the lentivirus subfamily of retrovirus. It has a lipid membrane with the trimeric glycoprotein gp 41 (yellow dots) to which the glycoprotein gp 120 ( green dots) is attached.

This painting is an artistic representation of the attachment of the HIV gp120 to the CD4 receptor of the T cell. ( black arrow)

 

 

TITLE:

Influenza virus

TECHNIQUE:

Knife painting

Acrylic on canvas

INTERPRETATION:

Influenza virus is a spherical RNA enveloped virus that belongs to the Orthomyxoviridae family. The outer layer is a lipid membrane taken from the host cell. Inserted in the membrane are spikes known as hemagglutinin (black arrow)and neuraminidase( blue arrow). These proteins determine the subtype of the influenza virus. Major changes on them are called antigenic shifts and minor changes are called antigenic drifts.

 

TITLE:

The Captain of the Sea

TECHNIQUE:

Knife painting

Acrylic on canvas

INTERPRETATION:

This painting is a gift to my lifelong mentor, Dr. John T. Sinnott, MD, now Chair of Medicine at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine.

The painting represents the challenges that the Chair has to overcome to navigate the turbulent waters of an academic medical program.

 

 

Title:

Aedes aegypti

TECHNIQUE:

Knife painting

Acrylic on canvas

INTERPRETATION:

Aedes aegypti is a mosquito responsible for the transmission of several viral diseases including dengue, yellow fever, West Nile, chikungunya, eastern equine encephalitis, and Zika.

The mosquito lives in tropical weather, it is more active biting during day time especially early in the morning and before dusk.

It is often recognized by its black and white markings on its body and legs.

 

 

TITLE:

ZIKA VIRUS

TECHNIQUE:

Knife painting

Acrylic on canvas

INTERPRETATION:

Zika virus is an RNA virus that belongs to the Flaviviridae family. It is transmitted by the Aedes mosquitoes in tropical and subtropical areas.

Clinical manifestations include low-grade fever, pruritic rash, small joint arthralgia, conjunctivitis, and occasionally infectious complications include Guillain-Barré syndrome, congenital microcephaly and fetal loss among women infected during pregnancy.

The painting above illustrates the outer membrane (yellow arrow) and the dense inner core (white arrow).