Burrison Gallery

Artist’s Statement

Overcoming the Horror of Illness

One of the roles of the physician is to quell the fire that illness ignites.  As an artist I translate and make palpable this fire. I am encouraged by the resilience and fortitude that my patients exhibit. My paintings strive to show my admiration of their efforts to carry on and confront the travails that befall them.

Through line, form and color I make these demons visible, so as to slay them. And if not to slay, at least to delay and give relief before the inevitable

“thus groan the old, till, by disease oppress'd,

They taste a final woe, and then they rest.”

George Crabbe 18th Century

For me, the redeeming feature of art-making is to also express joy and a little bit of irony.

About the Artist

Sami Khella is an Egyptian born physician and painter.  He studied both art and medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  While practicing neurology at Penn, he also paints and makes prints using a variety of media including etchings, woodblock, and linocuts.  Gouache and watercolors are  versatile, but oil remains the most eloquent and powerful medium.  He has participated in many group and solo shows nationally and internation and his work hangs in many public and private collections.