Viagra (sildenafil)
14” x 24”
2009
Acrylic on canvas
$700
Long a staple of spam e-mail and lazy comedians, Viagra is the first ever pharmaceutical treatment for impotence. Its curative properties were discovered in 1994, during clinical trials of sildenafil as a treatment for angina. Researchers found that sildenafil has little effect on angina, but does increase blood flow to the penis, and two years later, Viagra was released onto the market.
Viagra works by inhibiting PDE5, an enzyme found in the corpus cavernosum, the spongy tissue that makes up most of the penis. PDE5 breaks down cyclic guanosine monphosphate (cGMP), a hormone that causes smooth muscle relaxation and increased blood flow. Thus, Viagra causes a buildup of cGMP in the penis, which consequently fills with blood.
Unfortunately, PDE5 is also found in the retina, and the use of Viagra is associated with eye problems, including blindness caused by damage to the optic nerve. Less seriously, Viagra use can cause the user’s vision to become temporarily tinted blue, a providential side-effect for the makers of this distinctive blue pill.
These molecules are rendered as space-filling models, in a natural, low-energy conformation, and displayed from an angle that shows off as much of their structure as possible. The atoms are color-coded, with carbon being black, hydrogen white, oxygen red, sulfur yellow, and nitrogen blue. They are painted in artist-quality acrylics, on gessoed canvas
Leave a comment