‘Art for Life’ Campaign to Spotlight AIDS in O.C.

A coalition of artists, restaurateurs, fashion designers and musicians is launching a campaign to focus attention on the ravages that AIDS has inflicted in Orange County.

The numbers are sobering: An estimated 12,000 Orange County men, women and children have tested HIV-positive. Nearly 2,500 of those have developed AIDS symptoms, and teen-agers and women between the ages of 25 to 44 now represent those who are at greatest risk for infection, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Driving home the tragedy behind those numbers will be one goal of a two-month-long series of events taking place in Irvine and Santa Ana under the umbrella banner Art for Life’s Sake (AFLS).

For AFLS founder Mark Smith, whose younger brother, Paul, was diagnosed as having HIV in 1991, the focus is to “get the arts community to serve as the middleman to bridge the various communities and to get this issue in everyone’s face.”

“The thrust of this campaign is to break it out of the gay community. They are already well-informed about the disease; they have the support groups. The rate is going down among them. But in other parts of the community, we’re seeing more cases.”

The campaign kicks off Saturday with the opening of “The First Exhibition” at a donated gallery space in the Irvine Marketplace. The timing, organizers say, coincides with the start of the Irvine Arts Festival and the national AIDS march in Washington on Sunday.

With the cause as their theme, 28 Southern California artists will present varied works such as kinetic art, sculpture, assemblage, paintings and the written word scripted on a wall.

Curator Myrella Moses, who also has some of her own works on display, says she selected artists from “all walks of life, all colors, all sexual orientations,” from three artists with AIDS to students from the Orange County High School of Arts, who submitted an outdoor sculpture of dice.

Among those featured are Suvan Geer, David Torosian, Jerry McGrath, Sara Davis, William Benson, Jane Bauman and Deborah Davidson. Selections will become part of a May 23 silent auction to benefit the AIDS Service Foundation of Orange County.

The gallery also will present “Encore,” a one-act play, based on personal confrontations with the disease, written by locals Molly Hardy and Jim Boyer. Since co-writing the piece three years ago, Boyer has died of AIDS. “Encore” will run April 30, May 1, 14 and 15 at 8 p.m. and is free.

A resource center will open its doors this weekend in the Irvine Marketplace, providing the public with facts about the disease, information on county AIDS services and support groups. Both the resource center and the exhibit will run until June 13, when the city is host to its annual AIDS Walk.

Hoping that talk and exchanging ideas will bring about a greater understanding and sensitivity about the cause, organizers will hold a free round-table discussion on May 3 from noon to 2 p.m. at Rancho Santiago College in Santa Ana.

Although dialogue among the 20 scheduled panelists will center primarily on how the arts can help increase greater HIV and AIDS awareness in the county, health officials from several county agencies and AIDS services will address the issue on a larger scale.

Panelists include artists, advertisers, members of the media, college and museum administrators, senior public health personnel and AIDS activists.

The round-table is one step, Smith said, to unite county AIDS organizations and activists. Additionally, information and a listing of county AIDS services will be featured in Arti Fact, a booklet distributed at AFLS events.

The only group that will actually benefit from any fund raising is AIDS Services Foundation of Orange County. ASFOC is the county’s only full-service AIDS agency, offering counseling, meal delivery and other home aid and hospice care among a slew of programs and services.

Because most activities are free, ASFOC will reap proceeds from tickets--at $30 and $75--to a May 23 fund-raiser at Metropolis, Irvine’s upscale pool hall, dance and supper club.

Food for the event will be donated by area restaurants. Also included will be a fashion show, live music, a disco and a silent art and clothing auction. Organizers anticipate a crowd of about 700.

Though the gala will provide the finale in Art for Life’s Sake string of activities, Smith suggests that it “should not be thought of as a culmination, but a starting point to get out and do something.”

The idea for Art for Life’s Sake came about after last June’s AIDS Walk, when Smith, inspired by that event’s enthusiasm, wanted to something to sustain the participants’ motivation, as well as get others outside the local AIDS community involved.

Said Smith, who will be joined by his brother at the Metropolis benefit: “I see the AIDS crisis as part of a larger symptom having to do with ignorance, denial and apathy. The anecdote is education, motivation and participation.”