Paint it Forward

HeartWorks gives back to an LGBTQ health center that saved one artist's life.

by Mary Wilson

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Published: Apr 16, 2008

Run, Run, Run, Alex Da Corte, 2008, archival digital print (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Christopher Veit is not what most people would call a rich man. Although he's started two clothing labels and lived in London, New York and San Francisco, the 41-year-old fabric artist has never owned his own home, never had a "steady job," and doesn't have much in the way of money. But it's not as if he hasn't been busy.

Currently, Veit is working "pretty much full-time," as he concludes a year-and-a-half-long project to organize a contemporary art exhibition/auction to benefit the Mazzoni Center, a small health clinic at 12th and Chestnut that serves Philadelphia's LGBTQ community. With more than 88 artists contributing approximately 100 works of art, HeartWorks is expected by its organizers to raise more than $130,000 and is generating a considerable buzz for the local artists involved. It's also a lot of work for Veit, and he's not even getting a commission.

How did a little-known health clinic inspire this act of generosity? For Veit, the answer is simple. "They basically saved my life," he says.

In 2006, Veit was living in a small artist community in Southern California. As usual, he was working most of the time on his art, and doing odd jobs for money when he needed it. But when he tested positive for HIV, Veit soon realized that he was going to need some help. There were no clinics near his home, and those in nearby counties were unequipped for his needs. When his application for government assistance was denied, Veit called his parents. They told him to come home, to Media, Pa.

"At that point, I was really sick," he says. "I had no immune system, no T-cells. ... I think I had full-blown AIDS." When he arrived at the Mazzoni Center, they treated him immediately. Within a few months, he had made a complete turnaround.

Veit wanted to give something back, but he lacked the funds. He did, however, know how to raise them.

"Basically I just contacted my friends and said, 'Hey, this place saved my life, and I wish I could write them a million-dollar check, but I can't. But maybe you can help me." When it comes to friends, Veit is, indeed, a very rich man.

He began to solicit donations of artwork for a benefit auction, and within a very short time, big-name artists started to respond. "It just began to sort of snowball," says Roy Wilber, who is chairing HeartWorks for Mazzoni. "Then, when we did a little homework on some of the artists [via Google, etc.], it quickly began to dawn on us that we had something of a much grander scale on our hands than we had originally understood."

Those artists include internationally known figures like Jack Pierson, Devendra Banhart and Elyce Abrams, among others. The show will also feature NightVisions, two nights of music, video art and multimedia performances beginning Friday night at Johnny Brenda's, with appearances by Gang Gang Dance, Professor Murder and Cory Arcangel, just to name a few.

The list of local artists is equally impressive. Among them is Zoe Strauss, a self-taught photographer and Philadelphia native, whose stark images of the people and places in her South Philly neighborhood won her national acclaim at the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Alex Bag, a longtime friend of Veit's, is donating a drawing titled Noli Me Tangere (Heathus/Mary-Kagdalene), which depicts Heath Ledger and Mary-Kate Olsen as a risen Christ and Mary Magdalene, respectively. Virgil Marti and Alex Da Corte will also be featured, and New York-based rapper Tara De Long will perform a special rendition of Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom."

Despite its wide range of contributors, HeartWorks is not a typical contemporary art exhibit. There is no unifying aesthetic theme or concept behind its creation, except perhaps the goodwill of the artists and organizers who are making it happen. "It is a small, idiosyncratic rendition of the way a group of people look at the world," says organizer William Pym of the Fleisher/Ollman Gallery. "It's a picture of a community where everyone wins, which is an extraordinary place to be."

(m_wilson@citypaper.net)

HeartWorks kicks off with NightVisions: Fri., April 18, 8-11 p.m., Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., and Sat., April 19, 6 p.m.-mid., ICE BOX Project Space, 1400 N. American St., $20 (for either or both performances); exhibit runs Tue.-Fri., April 22-25, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., free, ICE BOX; closing reception and auction, 6-10 p.m., April 26, $35-$75, ICE BOX; 215-546-7824, inliquid.com/heartworks

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