Charity Art Auction to Benefit Philadelphia’s Mazzoni Center.

More than 20 years ago, artist Christopher Veit left his tidy suburban hometown of Media, PA, to pursue a life in the arts. Beginning with a four-year stint in art school in Baltimore, his passion for the arts has propelled him ever since, with little time spent looking back.

Today, Veit is back home on familiar turf, and ready to give Philadelphia a show it won’t soon forget. He has called upon his friends, a cadre of famous contemporary artists and musicians to contribute works for an art exhibition and auction he’s called HeartWorks.

Despite what he calls a fairly typical suburban upbringing in Delaware County, he says he always felt somehow different from the friends and family who surrounded him. More of a loner, Veit was drawn to art and nature.

“If I’d grown up differently, in a tribe or something like that, I probably would have been a shaman or something,” he laughs.

Veit immersed himself in the intertwining worlds of art, music and fashion. He had his first show right out of art school in 1990, and soon thereafter moved to San Francisco where he worked as a mural installer. He zigzagged from urban art hotspots like San Francisco, New York and London to the California desert, and while not a rich man, he’s lead an enriching life, particularly when it comes to the friendships he has made within the art world.

“I’ve developed a hugely supportive network of friends who are very, very important to me,” he said.

He discovered just how supportive recently, when he asked fellow artists for their help in raising funds for Mazzoni Center – a Philadelphia healthcare facility specializing in HIV treatment and care for patients regardless of their ability to pay. He credits the center with saving his life.

“Chris was a very sick young man when he arrived on our doorstep,” said Mazzoni’s Medical Director Dr. Rob Winn. After months of neglecting his condition followed by what Veit describes as a torturous drive cross-country, his health was badly depleted. Dr. Winn describes his turnaround as nothing short of remarkable.

“I feel the best I’ve felt in years,” Veit said. “I feel really grateful and lucky.”

So he decided to give back to the place and people who helped him regain his health. While he can’t come up with funds directly, he has managed to come up with a way others can write checks – lots of them. He decided to put on an art exhibition and auction, with all the works donated by his artist friends. Collectors and Mazzoni supporters alike are able to bid on these pieces, with all the proceeds going to the center.

HeartWorks, a two-week art exhibition of contemporary artists, ending with a benefit auction and cocktail party April 26, will be open from April 18th through the 26th at the IceBox Project Space, 1400 N. America St. in Philadelphia. For more information, contact Darrell Young at (215) 563-0652.

HeartWorks Artists

Compiled by Shannon Collins

Anthony Campuzano

Anthony Campuzano is a Philadelphia artist who uses pastel, ink and paint to create colorful works of art on paper. He attended the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, where he received his BFA, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Yale University Summer School of Art in Norwalk, CT. He has had solo shows at Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, White Columns, NYC, The Players Club of Swarthmore, and been featured in group shows at Bellwether Gallery, NYC, Carpenter Center at Harvard University and Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago.

How do you and Christopher Veit know each other?

I met Christopher due to my involvement in this benefit. I know now that we grew up along the same route 101 Septa trolley line (Media for him, Lansdowne Avenue stop for me) and that many of the other artists involved are mutual friends of ours from New York, Los Angeles and Philly.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

I am concerned with political/cultural commentary, explorations in color and formal devices, as well expressionism and self reflection.  Before starting to paint as a junior in high school, I studied acting and writing.  I wanted to either be a movie star or work for Vanity Fair. The other thing I really enjoyed (though it is often snickered at) was poetry. That could be the closest to what I do with my artwork, because I use color and shapes to create a pause or hesitation in the text. I also love the way words are spoken whether on the radio or records. A self-penned simplified version of the tenets that govern my work is probably the following:

A: What's the story?
B: Do these colors work?

n.b: one-identify your principles/two-know your materials/three-be open to new ideas/four-work really hard (over and over)

What is your impression of the art scene in Philadelphia?

Philadelphia is at points more hopeful and clean than when I graduated college in 2000. I moved back here in late 2003, and the past five years have been ones of growth and reward for many and the Philly art world in general. The spirit, effort and stamina highlighting this moment must be matched by a continuing expression of adventure, scholarship, support, and challenge by all artists, curators and patrons. Philadelphia has in its favor stellar universities and top-notch museums, particularly the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Rosenbach. We have all got to keep working hard; Soon enough the PMA will have that new Gehry expansion to fill!

Isaac Lin

Isaac Lin’s paintings deal with personal cartoon-like imagery that includes poses of monsters and abstract gibberish. His work focuses on the relationships between spirituality and the internal self. He received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and MFA from California College of the Arts. He is a resident artist of Space 1026, a world-renowned artist studio and gallery in Philadelphia.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

My work is made from an accumulation of layered lines. The lines have the quality of calligraphy because I am interested in the hand. I am interested in the characteristics of camouflage, barriers and the meditative process of emptiness and infinity, self-obliteration.

What are your artistic influences?...and generally, who or what influences you the most?

I am under the influence of folk and self taught artists, craftsmen, and people who don't consider themselves as artists. Generally I enjoy looking through books about old civilizations, listening to coast-to-coast UFO conspiracy theorists, religion and philosophy, new ideas in physics, tetrahedrons and spheres, reading about Freemasons and the Illuminati. The pyramids of Egypt, Mayan and Persian ziggurats, ruins from the Inca Empire, Taoism, Tibetan Thangka paintings, Coral Castle, anti-gravity, obelisks, 3-D glasses, movies and books all play a part in cultivating ideas about the unknown and the past. Camouflage, Razzle Dazzle painted battleships, Op art, Andy Kaufmann, myths, ghost stories, the subconscious, dreams, haunted houses, cats and dogs all contribute in forming ideas about nothing.

What is your impression of the art scene in Philadelphia?

I first moved back to Philadelphia after my undergraduate studies at Rhode Island School of Design in 1998. I got involved with Space 1026 through connections made at RISD. It was a great creative environment and learning experience where we were all trying to balance time between a day-job and making art. I learned to develop a healthy studio work ethic. It was also at Space 1026 where I formed my view of the art world and how to interact with it.

Philadelphia is still great for finding cheap rent and odd jobs allowing time to make work. I think that the art scene in Philadelphia is open to whatever you want to do. I find it very accepting, supportive and inspiring. I enjoy seeing new graffiti. The art scene that I am familiar with has always kept me grounded and down to earth and very much focused on working hard and having fun. The audience for my work has always been my friends.

How much does your environment have an effect on your work?

Environment has a lot to do with my work in that it affects the size of my paintings. If I had more studio space I would like to make more sculptures. I like being in an urban environment and being involved in a creative community. Not that the two are dependent on each other. An urban environment is dirty and organized, falling apart and new, multi cultural and segregated, loving and hateful etc, etc. The paradoxical nature of the City is inspiring. But being out in the country is just as fulfilling and inspiring. I had a residency in Skowhegan Maine three summers ago and my paintings grew from being in the quietness and darkness of Nature. I became more aware of the need to carve out my own territory and create a space for my consciousness to exist.

Can you describe your process, from the seed of an idea to a complete work?

I usually work reactively and in layers. Lately I have been working in a specific palette of fluorescent CMYK colors, black and white as well as RGB colors. I think it has to do with reduction and visual perception. I paint on paper usually and begin by covering the entire surface. I prefer working on larger paintings because it feels as though I am inside the painting and being slowly absorbed into it as it forms. Using fluorescent colors feels very unnatural and other worldly. Like Slimer from “Ghost Busters.”

Annie Costello Brown

Driven as much by her passion for painting as her love for design, jewelry designer Annie Costello Brown explores the delicate balance between classic and tough, mixing leather and metal together in each piece.

How do you and Christopher Veit know each other?

I met Chris Veit in San Francisco through a mutual friend, he was living out in Wonder Valley past Joshua Tree and we would take a break from the big city, visit with Chris, watching the peaceful desert sunsets and the starry night sky. He introduced me to a lot of amazing artists and designers from all over the world. He's a joiner of people. And very supportive!

What message are you trying to send with your work?

It sounds cliche, but I'm influenced by so many things - forms in nature, the photos of Karl Blossfeldt, the 1970s and ‘80s "art to wear" movement, spiritual art of the 20th century, romantic symbolism, nomadic tribal jewelry and clothing, vintage fashion jewelry, and so on.

Though personal style is always related to sexuality, I like fashion that isn't focused on obvious or oversimplification of sexuality but something more personal and complex. For myself, I like the jewelry to layer in with my style and to be subtle but also be able to stand alone as a bold statement.

What are your artistic influences?

I'm inspired by the arts and natural cultures and I try not to be to be dictated by the trend machine of the fashion industry.  To me true luxury is the hand crafted quality of the object—something well designed and made to last, not about the expense or logo it has slapped on it.

www.anniecostellobrown.com

Mary Pinto

Mary Pinto is a photographer living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Her work has been shown at numerous venues including Artists’ Space, St. Thomas Aquinas College, Cheryl McGinnis Gallery and the Rider Project in New York, as well as L’Angelot Contemporary Cultural Association and Spectrum Gallery in Spain.  She attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston before earning her MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in 1999.

How do you and Christopher Veit know each other?

Chris and I are cousins, so we have known each other our whole lives. He's performing a great service by organizing the HeartWorks event and I'm very happy he invited me to participate in it.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

I don't know that I am trying to send a message per se, but rather hoping that my work stimulates a response of some kind. I want it to be thought-and feeling-provoking.

What are your artistic influences?

My influences include scientific and medical images such as X-rays and scans, as well as early photography, especially photograms and botanical prints. I've also been looking at religious imagery such as Eastern mandalas and representations of the chakras lately. I'm interested in how photography, which is most often used to document what we see, can also be used to show what is not immediately visible.

www.marypinto.com

Matthew Levy of the PRISM Quartet

Intriguing programs of great beauty and breadth distinguish the PRISM Quartet as one of America’s foremost chamber ensembles. PRISM presents the saxophone as a serious concert instrument, while embracing its rich history in jazz and popular music.  Chosen by Musical America as “Outstanding Young Artists” and winners of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, PRISM has performed on Entertainment Tonight, National Public Radio, and in Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Most recently, PRISM has been presented to critical acclaim as soloists with orchestras nationwide, including the Cleveland, Dallas, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, performing William Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso, commissioned by the Quartet in 2000.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

The particular program PRISM will be playing at HeartWorks is a first for us. The program is called Low Blow and features five works for four baritone saxophones (yeah, the big ones). We'll be playing music by Martin Bresnick, Michael Gordon, Olga Neuwirth, and world premieres by Roshanne Etezady and yours truly. The quartet's mission is really centered on creating and disseminating new music for the concert saxophone. We've commissioned more than 100 works and have a very active recording schedule. Our goal is to share this amazing repertoire with audiences throughout the world.

What are your artistic influences?

Personally, my interests have focused on modern jazz and contemporary classical music. In jazz, I've been interested in artists that work in long form, jazz composers like Maria Schnieder whose skills as a big band orchestrator are stunning. I've also been listening a lot to Chris Potter lately - a ferocious, virtuosic improviser. In classical, PRISM has worked with many preeminent composers over the years, some of whom profoundly influenced the group, including William Albright and JacobTV. PRISM's most recent CDs on Innova pay tribute to both. We've also worked with William Bolcom and Steven Mackey, both of whom composed major concertos for the ensemble. All of these collaborations enrich us, lead to interesting partnership with other performing ensembles, dance companies, and individual artists, and help us to imagine new artistic possibilities.

www.prismquartet.com

Jay Schuette

As a young boy, Jay Schuette would often ride his bike into the rural cornfields of Indiana. One day, he discovered an abandoned, rundown farmhouse, which still contained some belongings of its former inhabitants. He says it was creepy and silent out there and it always stuck in his mind. In 1993, Jay began to paint the haunting, elongated figures he imagined after that experience. On the surface, Jay is painting imaginary people, but underneath, his paintings reflect tiny vignettes from his sometimes frightening yet often humorous personal experiences. Schuette has achieved artistic success in a short period of time. His work is included in many prestigious collections including the Mennello Museum of American Folk Art in Orlando, FL.

How do you and Chris know each other?

Chris and I met through a mutual acquaintance about four years ago. I think we both knew right off the bat that we would be good friends.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

It depends on the piece. Sometimes there's no message at all; it's just a matter of having an image in your mind of something you think will look cool hanging up on a wall. Sometimes it's an opinion about the US of A. Sometimes it's a message to myself. Sometimes it's not so much about trying to send a message as it is trying to depict and share the little universe going on inside my head.

What are your artistic influences?

My artistic influences and inspirations can come from anywhere, such as a foggy memory, my cats and the other critters hanging around my house, or an old advertisement. Because I am self-taught I never had any artistic guideposts or anchors, so I try to keep my mind open to everything in it and around it. I feel like I do my best work when I am working in a vacuum and completely unaware of anyone else's work.

www.jayschuette.com

Douglas Armour

Douglas Armour, whose music has been featured on television series “Veronica Mars,” is a songwriter from Los Angeles. His recordings include “Flushed and Flamlike Themselves,” “Prince of Wands,” and “Something Sweet.”  He is signed with the Social Registry Label.

How do you and Christopher Veit know each other?

I met Christopher Veit through a mutual friend of ours, Jack Pierson. We've become very close over the past few years, and I consider Chris to be one of my dearest friends.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

Honesty and perseverance. But man, am I impatient.

What are your artistic influences?

My friends are my biggest artistic influences and inspirations. In my work I am always chasing that feeling we all have in our childhood when something (be it a song on the radio, a book, a movie, etc.) created a spark in us and made us aware of magic in the world. I try to sift through all of the esoterica I've accumulated in my brain (as we all do) and create out of a carefree and innocent place. That, to me is the full-circle goal.

www.myspace.com/douglasarmour

Mikal Winn

Mikal Winn designs and creates jewelry with an organic quality and natural beauty, incorporating precious stones and gems with his own silver solder technique. Each piece is handcrafted and one of a kind. Mikal Winn Designs have been featured in galleries and boutiques in Los Angeles, New York, Japan, Spain, Greece and beyond. Born and raised on a dairy farm in rural Ohio, Mikal Winn now designs and creates jewelry at his home studio in the Wonder Valley area of Twentynine Palms, CA, in the Mojave Desert next to Joshua Tree National Park.

How do you and Christopher Veit know each other?

I'm Jack Pierson’s neighbor in Twentynine Palms, so I met Chris about four years ago when he moved out to help Jack with his property.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

I don't know if I really have a message I think I'm just creating for my own amusement at the moment. I enjoy making pieces that some people think are beautiful and others just plain gaudy. I think it's a little bit of both.

What are your artistic influences?

I'm influenced by a lot of things but all my new stuff is probably most influenced by my 3-year-old son Cash. Having a 3-year-old makes you see things in a whole new way. Creating things that I would ooh and ahh about at that age is what it's all about at the moment.

www.mikalwinn.com

Michele O'Marah

The videos of California-based artist Michele O'Marah shrewdly draw on pop culture references and Hollywood genre conventions. At once reverent and critically deconstructive, O'Marah's works reflect on the pleasures of popular film with an exuberant sense of style and a healthy dose of do-it-yourself gumption. At a time when sequels and remakes seem to be getting everyone down, O'Marah shows us how to revel in the pleasures of remaking and re-watching. Her work is represented by Sister Gallery in Los Angeles.

How do you and Christopher Veit know each other?

 Gosh, CHris and I have known each other for almost 20 years. It has been so long it is hard to remember. I think we met through mutual friends when we were both living in San Francisco.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

A lot of my work is done with video, in those pieces I usually use appropriation and remake television segments or parts of films. In doing so I am trying to talk about the socio-political subtext present in the narratives. One of the things that distinguishes what I do from traditional film making is the hand of the artist.  While Hollywood tries to make their films appear seamless in order to create the illusion of reality, I prefer to make all the seams evident, making it obvious that you are watching something constructed for you, a false or made up reality. As part of my process I make or remake many objects in the original but in a very home made crafty way, like for a Vietnam piece I make machine guns out of cardboard for example. For the HeartWorks photo edition I followed some of these ideas by making paper roses. I got the idea from a craft book that had images that looked very 50's/60'sish. I made my rendition of that image. I think it is sort of funny because it references that time in American life when fake and plastic was more modern and an improvement on the real. It also reminded me of Todd Haynes recent film Far From Heaven. Which I thought was appropriate because it was to benefit an AIDS charity which has affected the game community so deeply.

What are your artistic influences?...and generally, who or what influences you the most?

Generally what influences me the most are my friends. I have an amazing group of peer artists in Los Angeles that I get to share ideas with, it is extremely stimulating. I am influenced by so many things really, that might sound trite, but I think the biggest influence on me would be the films of Andy Warhol and post modern photographers that I studied in college like Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince. But I could also list things like 90's underground music, the films of John Waters and John Cassavetes, as well as trashy celebrities such as Pam Anderson. Artists that I really like include Thomas Hirschhorn, Carol Bove, Christian Jankowski and Rodney Graham. I listen to a lot of public radio and think about politics quiet a bit. I am too old to be obsessed with the Internet and You Tube and such.

 Zoe Strauss

Zoe Strauss is a photographer of the social landscape. She produces ambitious, large-scale public projects, notably her annual May 1st exhibition under I-95, in which hundreds of photographs of the surrounding community are marshaled to activate a two-block area. She just cocmpleted the eighth year of this ongoing ten-year project, which is free and open to the public. Strauss had her work included in exhibitions at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Arcadia University Art Gallery, the Whitney Biennial, and the Indianapolis Installation Festival. She has served as a Leeway Foundation Advisory committee member, and a teaching artist at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia. Her work is included in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

How do you and Christopher Veit know each other?

I don't know Christopher Veit. He asked me to participate and I am thrilled to do so.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

Within my work I look to explore the beauty and struggle of everyday life.

What are your artistic influences?...and generally, who or what influences you the most?

Bruce Springsteen and Dorothy Allison.

What is your impression of the art scene in Philadelphia?

Without a doubt, Philadelphia is the greatest city in the world and our arts scene reflects Philadelphia's greatness. Philadelphia has some of the strongest working contemporary artists going at it right now.

How much does your environment have an effect on your work?

Very much. I am always responding to the environment I'm in. My work is about what's happening in the moment so it's almost always directly related to my surroundings.

Can you describe your process, from the seed of an idea to a complete work?

The answer to that question is, without exaggeration, a 15 to 20 page essay at a minimum. But! I can tell you taht for the last 8 years I've been working on a single project, I-95, and that's my focus through 2010. I am constantly in the process of working on I-95, which can be explained in more detail here:

Photographer and installation artist Zoe Strauss will exhibit over 231 new and selected works on Saturday, May 4th, 2008 from 1pm to 4pm under I-95 at Front Street and Mifflin Street in South Philadelphia. The exhibition is free and open to the public. Selected pieces of Strauss's art will be available as color photocopies for purchase at $5 each. The event will happen rain or shine.

www.zoestrauss.com

Kim Stringfellow

Kim Stringfellow's work investigates environmental and historical topics related to land use through hybrid documentary forms incorporating a variety of media, including photography, film/video, audio, installation and Web-based interactive multimedia. Project commissions include Salmoncity.net and Safe As Motehr's Milk: The Hanford Project. Her book project titled, Greetings from the Salton Sea: Folly and Intervention in the Southern California Landscape, 1905-2005, was published with the Center for American Places in 2005.

How do you and Christopher Veit know each other?

Chris is a new friend of mine. I contacted him recently while doing research for a new photographic book project concerning the mid-century jackrabbit homesteading movement, which granted five-acre tracts from the public domain if the leasee "proved up" their claim by building a small dwelling with minimal requirements. I was directed to Chris because he lives part time in Wonder Valley, California which is near Joshua Tree National Monument, where the majority of the remaining homesteads are located. He actually owns one out there and is working on a new body of work directly influenced by the structures. One of the aspects of this project is showing how the local artists of the area (which he is a part of) are reclaiming the structures, which in turn, helps to create a fascinating creative enclave and community.

What message are you trying to send with your work?

Most of my current work addresses ecological, historical, and activist issues related to land use and the built environment through hybrid documentary forms incorporating a variety of media including writing, digital multimedia and photography. Often, my projects investigate repercussions of human development with the western United States evolving out of a rigorously researched area of interest focused on a particular subject, community or region to discuss complex, interrelated issues of the chosen site. Within my work and research, I attempt to expose human values and political agendas that form our collective understanding of these places.

What are your artistic influences?

Pretty eclectic: CLUI, Robert Smithson, Bruce Conner, Mark Dion, Lucy Lippard, Rebecca Solnit, Mike Davis, and J.B. Jackson are an assortment of visual artists and writers that influence my work. Film and music also play an important part as well.

www.kimstringfellow.com