Patent Medicine in Ripon

"Patent Medicine in Ripon," by Travis Nygard, $200

"Patent Medicine in Ripon," by Travis Nygard, $200

Name/Title

"Patent Medicine in Ripon"

Entry/Object ID

T2025.1.1

Description

Artist's Statement: My work uses the sign for Dr. Bosanko's Cough and Lung Syrup as a starting point for imagining how people in Ripon would have consumed questionable patent medicines, before the strict quality controls that we have today. The ingredients of such medicines were generally not disclosed, but researchers at the Agricultural College of North Dakota determined what was in this one. I thus attempted to evoke sensations such as the sweetness of honey, the darkness of tar, the euphoria of morphine, and the revulsion of a fly using assembled materials. It is my hope that, as visitors look at the art, they can imagine someone in Ripon tasting a spoonful of Dr. Bosanko's medicine.

Artwork Details

Medium

Mixed media

Context

Art inspired by the sign, "Dr. Bosanko's Cough and Lung Syrup."

Made/Created

Artist

Travis Nygard

Date made

2025

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects