Perfectly Pitched is proud to support The Open Doors Festival at The Kennedy Center, showcasing the talents of disabled artists, performers, writers & creatives of all kinds. We were thrilled to provide pro bono marketing support & honored to be invited to exhibit & participate in the Artists Market at Presidential Grove. As part of that exhibit, we’re proud to feature the work of several disabled artists on our team & in our community, including this series by our founder, H.M.A. Lawver.

Artist Statement

Created using crushed Tylenol™ mixed with white gesso & acrylics, atop a canvas covered in narcotic drug information inserts, Icarus Oath speaks to the nuance of the opioid epidemic. Just as a fire can save you from hypothermia or burn you alive, so too are opioids a tool that can offer great relief or cause great suffering.

For those in pain, narcotics are the wings that lift you above agony, soaring into a life of productivity & possibility.

Yet that same tool can claw you, pulling you into the depths of addiction.

This series ia one patient’s plea to doctors & our government’s regulatory agencies. In fighting the opioid epidemic, by all means, work to prevent the horrors of addiction.

But please don’t clip the wings of those desperate to fly free from the bonds of unbearable pain.

In seeking to help one, don’t harm another.

Icarus Oath #1

The series began with this first painting, measuring in at 4′ x 6′, covered in nearly 100 narcotic drug information inserts and at least two bottles of Tylenol™. Given its large size & the fact that it is as yet still unfinished, it will not be part of the exhibition at The Kennedy Center. This piece is not currently for sale.

Icarus Oath #2

Opioid addiction is real. Overdose happens to far too many. Drug addiction is a dark, enveloping, all-encompassing evil, consuming entire lives, entire families, in the process. It’s a problem that must be addressed, a fate that must be avoided.

Sale price: $200 • Measuring 12″ x 9″

Icarus Oath #3

What are the drivers of the opioid epidemic? When does help become harm? These questions drive so much of what’s done to address a serious issue, with far too many people dying of overdoses every day. That absolutely must be addressed. But our hope is that in seeking to prevent one form of harm, we don’t inflict another on those who have done nothing but ask for medical care for legitimate pain.

Sale price: $100 • Measuring 12″ x 4″

Icarus Oath #4

Even when used to lift patients away from their pain, the spectre of addiction is always present. Yet that spectre is far smaller than most would realize; only 0.19% of chronic pain patients on prescription medications develop abuse or addiction to opioids. Among those few who do develop an addiction, according to SAMHSA, 75% had already used other illicit drugs before they ever misused painkillers. And according to the CDC, at least half of all prescription opioid-related deaths are associated with other drugs, such as benzodiazepines, alcohol, and cocaine; combinations that are far deadlier than the component drugs on their own.

Yet, despite knowing all of this, chronic pain patients — and the pain specialists who care for them — are the easiest, quickest, most expedient path to regulation. The fastest way to look like action is being taken. Yet it has done nothing to curb the growth of the epidemic or the rate of overdose deaths.

It has, however, led to a rapid escalation of suicides among the chronically ill.

Too many doctors have been regulated out of practice, leading to doctor shortages. Too many patients have been blacklisted, despite having serious diagnoses like terminal cancer. Entirely unregulated AI-based monitoring systems, unknown to patients with no path for recourse, are now determining whether or not you may have access to medically necessary pain treatment. Even veterinary prescriptions for pets have been known to cause patients to be blacklisted, with no way to challenge it, no way to change it, and often, no way of even knowing what happened.

That little black dot of addiction amongst the wing of hope is miniscule for a reason. Prescription medications are simply not the cause of the opioid epidemic.

Sale price: $100 • Measuring 12″ x 4″

Icarus Oath #5

The final piece concludes by framing the two opposing realities of narcotics: the pain relief vs drug abuse & dependence. The yin & yang of a substance that, inherently, is neither good nor bad on its own. The hope of the artist is that in seeking to fight one, we don’t lose sight of the other, and thus cause twice the harm.

Treating pain is medical care, like any other. Physician — and government — do no harm.

Sale price: $100 • Measuring 12″ x 4″

Thanks for joining us!

Please explore our other art exhibits from The Open Doors Festival at the Kennedy Center!