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Shelter Island artist and resident Todd Krasovetz recently received national acclaim for his paintings in the genre of “military art.” His work is on display in military hospitals and museums across the United States, and one painting in particular —“Wings of Hope” — will be seen on Lifetime Network’s “Army Wives” on Thursday, March 29.
The “Army Wives” deal came about when the show’s set director, Missy Ricker, saw Krasovetz’s work online. Ricker was in need of some pieces for the set and had the show’s attorneys send over a contract that same day. “Wings of Hope” depicts a wounded Marine being aided off of the battlefield by a Navy Corpsman and is one of his most widely publicized pieces.
Although Krasovetz has been working feverishly over the last 15 years, he remains ever the family man and patriot. He was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1970 while his father was stationed in the U.S. Army.
“We moved around a lot. You know, the typical ‘Army brat’ bit,” said Krasovetz. “My brother was a corpsman for 12 years, finished in 2008 and is thinking of rejoining. I find that my family’s service and all the servicemen and servicewomen of our country are the totality of inspiration for what I do.”
This inspiration is paramount in his work, which covers all branches of military service. He has three paintings displayed around Camp Pendleton, as well as one at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot adjacent to Point Loma. In addition, the Walter Reid Military Hospital in Bethesda, Md., along with the Wounded Warrior Project, will be hosting an auction of two of his pieces in May and June, respectively. The proceeds will go to the charity of the buyer’s choice, and oil paintings aren’t cheap.
“I have spoken with doctors whose specialty is dealing with wounded servicemen, and am shocked by the positive responses,” said Krasovetz. “Having been in the situations l depict, as in the case with ‘Wings of Hope,’ they are able to cope and know their service is appreciated at the same time.”
Veterans and their families have been most thankful of Krasovetz’s work. They are seemingly drawn to the respect conveyed through his paintings, which provide a certain strength that may not be achieved through dialogue.
“Hearing positive feedback from this core group is why I do this,” said Krasovetz. “If it were not for them, it would be rather difficult for me to paint.”
San Diego and all of its military history provides a solid background for Krasovetz to work from, though its natural beauty drives an abstract side as well. He maintains a studio on Rosecrans Street and said he likes to keep typical hours. With a wife and young daughter, Krasovetz said a typical day involves taking his daughter to school, working steadily for several hours and then picking her up again.
Krasovetz said he plans to have an abstract-art show in New York by the end of the year. This work is quite oppositional to the more structured, military art he paints, although Krasovetz has a few pieces with abstract backgrounds contrasting portraits of military figures.
Krasovetz was recently commissioned to paint three murals at the swanky La Bec Fin restaurant in Philadelphia and he is working on illustrations for a children’s book.
“The children’s book was a lot bigger project than I expected,” said Krasovetz. “Working with paint, I figured that illustrations would fly off the page much easier. They have taken me longer than expected, but it has definitely been an interesting project.”
For more information on Krasovetz and his work, visit www.official-military-art.com.
Local artist’s work featured on TV show ‘Army Wives’
By Kelley Carlson
Local artist Todd Krasovetz’s career is soaring.
Two of his paintings, titled “Wings of Hope” and “Hidden Wings,” are being used on the set of the Lifetime TV show “Army Wives,” which airs at 9 p.m. EST Sundays.
The works of art, which depict Navy corpsmen in human and angelic forms tending to wounded comrades in the field, will first appear in episode 607 and again in episode 612. “Wings Of Hope” is showcased in a doctor’s office in the fictional Mercer Medical Hospital, and “Hidden Wings” is displayed in a conference room in the same building.
The sixth season of the show — which follows the lives of several Army wives and their families on a military base — began March 4, with two back-to-back episodes.
“Army Wives” set decorator Missy Ricker found the pieces on two of Krasovetz’s Web sites: militaryartposters.com and official-military-art.com.
“Ricker focused on my work following director John Kretchmer’s request for military art that spoke to the fact that the doctor in the show was a lieutenant colonel and medic in the Army,” said the 41-year-old Krasovetz.
He admitted that he was surprised when he received a call from ABC’s studio attorneys to negotiate a purchase of the two paintings in December.
“After speaking with Ricker, she explained that the director wanted an image that was striking and symbolized the strength, brotherhood and patriotism that exists in medical hospitals, and found my military artwork to be the perfect fit for the show,” Krasovetz said.
“The things we ‘dress’ onto the set can make the whole story line a little deeper by giving viewers insight into the characters,” Ricker said in a news release. “Todd is able to capture the reality of life on the battlefield, while adding a hopeful, spiritual element … celebrating the role of the medic in action.”
Krasovetz drew his inspiration for his military paintings from his brother, Scott Krasovetz, a retired Navy corpsman. After being commissioned by the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton to do a “spirit” type of piece in 2001, Todd Krasovetz took his brother and friend Matt Murphy to Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base and had the comrades play war games while he captured the images to be used in the painting “Wings of Hope.” The artwork was unveiled at a POW dedication ceremony on the base in October 2001.
“Any time a wounded soldier or family (of a wounded soldier) came in to see the (picture), they would e-mail me,” Krasovetz said in an interview. “It went far beyond than what I was commissioned for.”
The original “Wings of Hope” painting — along with “Hidden Wings” — is on permanent display at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton and the Corpsman Field Training Center on base. “Army Wives” features hand-painted prints of the originals.
Krasovetz finds the military artwork rewarding, as a number of people have left testimonials on his Web sites.
USMC Sgt. Mary Dunn said her son, Patrick, USMC Cpl. 1/5 Alpha Company, was injured in Iraq when his armored Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb and a piece of shrapnel hit him. Two of his friends in the Humvee took Patrick’s boot off, applied a tourniquet, and kept him calm until they returned to base. The friends were killed the next day by another roadside bomb.
Dunn said she saw “Wings of Hope” at the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton as she waited for Patrick’s arrival, and viewed the friends as the angels in the artwork.
“Your military art picture really brought home the rest of the story,” she said on Krasovetz’s Official Military Art site.
“We have such a huge military community; we need to be more appreciative of them,” Krasovetz said. “I try to bring back a positive light in this unfortunate economy.”
While Krasovetz has only been creating pieces for the military for about 10 years, the Frankfurt, Germany, native has been an artist all of his life. He lists his influences as John Singer Sargent, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh and Jackson Pollock.
“Even as a child, I really loved doing it,” Krasovetz said. “In kindergarten, through grade school, and even when I graduated from New Mexico State University with a BFA degree (in 2003, with a specialty in painting), I have always excelled in the arts.”
He started getting consistent work as a professional artist in 1997.
Krasovetz has had many achievements over the years, but one of his proudest occurred in 2004, when he was asked to be a part of a silent auction held during the TaylorMade-Adidas-sponsored golf tournament in Rancho Santa Fe. His abstract painting “Light Within” was purchased by the owners of the Inns of America Suites in Carlsbad, and subsequently hung in the lobby.
Today, Krasovetz’s artwork can be found in various locations around the country. Along with the previously mentioned sites on Camp Pendleton, his pieces can be found at the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center in Balboa Park; Marine Corps Recruit Depot’s Johnson Hall in San Diego; Field Medical Training Battalion at Camp Pendleton; Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River in Maryland; William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas; and Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.
Krasovetz is also represented for contemporary abstract art at the Agora Gallery in New York City, where he will have a collective exhibition show from June 12 through July 3.
While he specializes in military pieces, Krasovetz is often commissioned to produce high-end family and children’s portraits, book illustrations and commercial interior design. Other services Krasovetz offers include: TV and movie studio art production; realistic/hyper-realism illustrations; realistic paintings and drawings; landscape and ocean scenes; large-scale Old World maps; master reproductions and portraits, including celebrity artists, musicians, athletes and movie stars; art photography; and high-end murals.
He has a number of projects on the horizon. Among Krasovetz’s works in production is a painting for the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.; a master’s reproduction of artwork “The Bricoleur’s Daughter” by Mark Tansy for a management group in Solana Beach; illustrations for a children’s book titled “Where’s My Bobby?”; a mural project for Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton; and a 23-painting installation for Cannon Air Force Base, N.M.
Also in 2012, he plans to donate an original oil painting of Steve Jobs to the family, and a corporate strategic partnership is slated between Official Military Art/Todd Krasovetz and Golden Healthcare of Temecula.
Next year, Krasovetz will complete a sculpture for the new hospital at Camp Pendleton.
When he isn’t busy with artwork, Krasovetz enjoys music writing and production, fishing, the outdoors, and spending time with friends and family, including wife Kourtney and 7-year-old daughter Alyssa.
Krasovetz has a working live indoor and outdoor studio open to the public, at 3236 Fenelon St. in San Diego. In addition, he has small working studios in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Carlsbad.
For more information about Krasovetz and his artwork, call (619) 490-9985, or go to www.toddkrasovetz.com, www.officialmilitaryart.com,
Hospital corpsmen mark 118th year
Ceremony at Camp Pendleton features installation of “Wings of Hope” painting
The Hospital Corps was established June 17, 1898 with 25 apothecaries. Since then the medical team serving the Navy and Marines on the battlefield and home front has grown to more than 30,000 corpsmen worldwide, with 873 corpsmen serving at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton and its branch clinics.
The hospital’s staff along with friends and family came together Friday to mark the 118th birthday of the Hospital Corps.
During the ceremony, the painting “Wings of Hope” by local military artist Todd Krasovetz, was unveiled at its new location in the pastoral care lobby.
The painting shows a Navy corpsman pulling a wounded Marine to safety on a sandy shore. In the reflection of the water, the corpsman has wings.
The work was originally installed in 2001 at the entrance to the old Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton.
“Wings of Hope” became famous after it was used on the set of the Lifetime TV series “Army Wives” several years ago along with other military paintings by Krasovetz, whose brother Scott Krasovetz, served as a Navy corpsman, and was deployed to Iraq with the 1st Marine Division based at Camp Pendleton.
The San Diego-based artist has created paintings for nearly a dozen military installations across the country to honor service members.
The ceremony included remarks by Capt. Lisa Mulligan, the hospital’s commanding officer, a reading of birthday messages from the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Robert B. Nellar and the Hospital Corps Force Master Chief, Terry J. Prince, along with a cake cutting by the hospital’s oldest and youngest corpsmen.
In its early decades, The Hospital Corps was known by various names, including apothecaries, hospital steward and pharmacist’s mate before the name hospital corpsman was selected in 1948.
Over its history, the corpsmen have distinguished themselves. Navy Corpsmen have received 22 medals of honor; there are 20 ships named after corpsmen and corpsmen have earned 174 navy crosses and 946 silver stars, according to hospital officials.