Untitled Document

Artist's massive painting sets size record

By MARTHA WAGGONER -- Associated Press MORRISVILLE, N.C. (AP) An artist has been working 21-hour days in the past three weeks as he puts the finishing touches on a mammoth painting in honor of children affected by AIDS and HIV. Eric Waugh has been working for five years on "Hero," a painting that will stand twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty when all the canvas is pieced together. The massive work is to be unveiled on Saturday -- World AIDS Day -- on the grounds of the North Carolina Museum of Art. After the one-time exhibition, the 41,400-square-foot painting will be cut into 1-square-foot pieces and sold on the Web site art.com, a sponsor of the work. Waugh hopes to raise $4 million.

The artist plans to divide the proceeds between Camp Heartland, a Minnesota camp for children affected by AIDS and HIV, and Los Angeles-based Starlight Children's Foundation, which helps seriously ill children. A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records is expected to attend the unveiling and declare the painting the largest by a single artist, a new category. Waugh worked frantically to complete the work, sort out funding and work out the logistics of moving the painting's 1,656 5-foot sections from his studio in Montreal to Raleigh. The impetus for the painting came when Waugh watched a 1995 CBS News documentary, "Before Your Eyes: Angelie's Secret," about a young girl's struggle with HIV. "I was just -- it took my breath away," Waugh said Tuesday in the warehouse in Morrisville where the painting was stored. "And I thought how lucky I was with two healthy boys upstairs." Waugh called Camp Heartland in Willow River, Minn., to ask about designing a benefit poster. After a visit to the camp, he came up with the abstract image of an adult comforting a child. The poster didn't sell as well as he would have liked, even though it was a fixture on the TV show "Seinfeld," where it hung on the wall of Jerry's apartment. "So I came up with the crazy idea of making the world's largest painting," Waugh said. At that time, the largest was 77,000 square feet, created by thousands of people. But Waugh asked Guinness to create a new category -- largest painting by a single person -- for the enormous new version of his painting.

He expects to get that superlative on Saturday after volunteers connect the canvases until the painting measures 180 feet by 230 feet. The Museum of Art doesn't usually sponsor charity events, said museum director Larry Wheeler. "But it came on World AIDS day, and we always do some commemorative or memorial event about the continuing AIDS epidemic," Wheeler said. The $2 million Waugh hopes to raise for Camp Heartland represents the camp's annual budget, said founder and CEO Neil Willenson. "This money represents a brighter future for children with AIDS," he said. "It will greatly expand the reach of our program."



News Main Articles Television and Radio appearances	Artist's massive painting sets size record By MARTHA WAGGONER -- Associated Press MORRISVILLE, N.C. (AP) An artist has been working 21-hour days in the past three weeks as he puts the finishing touches on a mammoth painting in honor of children affected by AIDS and HIV. Eric Waugh has been working for five years on "Hero," a painting that will stand twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty when all the canvas is pieced together. The massive work is to be unveiled on Saturday -- World AIDS Day -- on the grounds of the North Carolina Museum of Art. After the one-time exhibition, the 41,400-square-foot painting will be cut into 1-square-foot pieces and sold on the Web site art.com, a sponsor of the work. Waugh hopes to raise $4 million. The artist plans to divide the proceeds between Camp Heartland, a Minnesota camp for children affected by AIDS and HIV, and Los Angeles-based Starlight Children's Foundation, which helps seriously ill children. A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records is expected to attend the unveiling and declare the painting the largest by a single artist, a new category. Waugh worked frantically to complete the work, sort out funding and work out the logistics of moving the painting's 1,656 5-foot sections from his studio in Montreal to Raleigh. The impetus for the painting came when Waugh watched a 1995 CBS News documentary, "Before Your Eyes: Angelie's Secret," about a young girl's struggle with HIV. "I was just -- it took my breath away," Waugh said Tuesday in the warehouse in Morrisville where the painting was stored. "And I thought how lucky I was with two healthy boys upstairs." Waugh called Camp Heartland in Willow River, Minn., to ask about designing a benefit poster. After a visit to the camp, he came up with the abstract image of an adult comforting a child. The poster didn't sell as well as he would have liked, even though it was a fixture on the TV show "Seinfeld," where it hung on the wall of Jerry's apartment. "So I came up with the crazy idea of making the world's largest painting," Waugh said. At that time, the largest was 77,000 square feet, created by thousands of people. But Waugh asked Guinness to create a new category -- largest painting by a single person -- for the enormous new version of his painting. He expects to get that superlative on Saturday after volunteers connect the canvases until the painting measures 180 feet by 230 feet. The Museum of Art doesn't usually sponsor charity events, said museum director Larry Wheeler. "But it came on World AIDS day, and we always do some commemorative or memorial event about the continuing AIDS epidemic," Wheeler said. The $2 million Waugh hopes to raise for Camp Heartland represents the camp's annual budget, said founder and CEO Neil Willenson. "This money represents a brighter future for children with AIDS," he said. "It will greatly expand the reach of our program."