JIM RISWOLD
BCNU
2013 color digital print

33-1/2 x 33-1/2 inches, Edition of 10, $750.
24 x 24 inches, Edition of 10, $500.


An oncologist will tell you BCNU means Bis-chloroethylnitrosourea.

An oncologist will then go on to tell you that BCNU is a mustard gas–
related β-chloro-nitrosourea compound used as an alkylating agent in
chemotherapy to treat several types of brain cancer (including glioma,
glioblastoma multiforme, medulloblastoma and astrocytoma), multiple myeloma
and lymphoma (Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s) and is sometimes
used in conjunction with alkyl guanine transferase (AGT) inhibitors, such
as O6-benzylguanine, that increase the efficacy of BCNU by inhibiting
the direct reversal pathway of DNA repair, which will prevent formation of
the interstrand crosslink between the N1 of guanine and the N3 of cytosine.

Urban Dictionary will tell you BCNU means “be seeing you.”

OMG, my oncologist is calling me. BCNU.