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Art with heart to boost Pentagon fund

Prolific artist Peter Max unveils poster to aid in fund raising for the Pentagon Memorial.

By PAMELA GOULD

Date published: 10/3/2003

By PAMELA GOULD Posters designed to help finance memorial to 184 victims of 9/11

ARLINGTON--Prolific artist Peter Max, whose vivid use of color first caught the eye of the nation in the 1960s, yesterday unveiled a patriotic poster he hopes will raise $1 million for the Pentagon Memorial to the victims of Sept. 11, 2001.

Max, who lives in Manhattan, said he was inspired to help after seeing the renovation efforts at the Pentagon during a visit to Washington last year for a showing of his artwork. He had already created six posters to benefit victims of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The poster that was unveiled yesterday is classic Max, with bold colors--predominantly red, white and blue. It features the Statue of Liberty with the Pentagon in the background and four artistic representations of the American flag behind the torch.

The posters will be available in mid-November through a nonprofit organization via his Web site--petermax.com--or at att.com/mil.

Nine-thousand posters--all of which will be personally signed by Max--are being sold for $150 each. Of each sale, $100 will go to the Pentagon Memorial Fund and the rest to cover expenses, according to spokeswomen for the project.

Another 25 "overpaintings" will be sold for $8,000 each, with half of that going to the fund.

Max's first patriotic artwork featured the Statue of Liberty and eventually led to him helping get the New York icon restored. After that, the German-born and internationally raised artist was hooked.

"I so much loved the fact that I did it, I do it over and over again," he said yesterday. "So now, I look for places where I can do it."

Jim Laychak, president of the Pentagon Memorial Fund Inc. and brother of one of the 184 people killed at the Pentagon, said he appreciated not only Max's contribution but also corporate supporter AT&T, which underwrote and is marketing the poster.

"To me, it's not just the poster, it's also the marketing muscle of AT&T," Laychak said after yesterday's unveiling on the grounds of the Pentagon where the memorial will stand.

Rosemary O'Brien, AT&T's general manager for military markets, said promotional materials will eventually be included in the 20 million invoices the company sends its customers each month.

She also said the posters will be promoted at the roughly 2,500 programs AT&T holds each year for the military and general public.

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Date published: 10/3/2003