Art is beautiful. It is one universal language everyone can come together on."
Written by Sara Debevec
Photographs by JL Cederblom
Chris Harwood is surrounded by trees, chirping birds and parrots in the beautiful city of Medellín, Colombia as he takes my call. He has always been a tropical man. He spent most of his life in Florida and is still primarily based in Coral Springs, but this is his new second home, El Poblado in Medellín Colombia known as the city of eternal spring. Over the past four months he’s been working out of here remotely, enjoying perfect weather and energetic walks in the neighborhood with his adopted boxer - pit bull mix, Dottie who loves being by his side.
Chris operates in the tech and healthcare world. He is the Founder of TelevisitMD, a company that provides software as a service to physicians, ancillaries and patients around the world. TelevisitMD helps physicians generate orders and get a consultation completed from A to Z. Patients have an option to see a doctor now, on demand or wait for the doctor to see them later that day. His business has been operating since 2015 and everything they work with is non-narcotic at this time with more of a holistic approach to things like flu, common cold and pain relief. “I am the sole owner. I’ve worked on the development of our own proprietary software and platform for all these years and right now we are the most compliant platform in the industry.” He also has a separate billing company that strictly does billing for the providers of doctors.
Behind a man rooted in healthcare and technology is a collection of art that connects him to spirit. Masters like Da Vinci and Michelangelo always fascinated Chris but it was Salvador Dali that led him to Winn Slavin Gallery in Beverly Hills. “I was always really into surrealism and so when I stumbled across the Winn Slavin Gallery in LA – I came there for a separate business –I was really fascinated by it already from outside the window. I knew I had to go in there and see what’s going on. It was drawing me magnetically…” Finding out that Sir Daniel Winn does a lot of surrealist art pulled Chris into becoming one of his collectors. The Symbolism that Sir Daniel Winn uses in his work really spoke to him on a deeper level “I was fascinated with piece after piece and after I met Sir Daniel Winn, I was pulled into that circle. Even to this day I think it was meant to be. It was my destiny to walk into that gallery, so I think it resonates with me as a person.”
Chris was born in Philadelphia and spent most of his childhood in Brigantine, New Jersey. His mother was a Blackjack roulette dealer and together with his younger brother they moved to where her work took her. From Las Vegas to Atlantic City and even cruise ships, they explored for a while before settling in Orlando, Florida where Chris stayed through his mid 20s. He was always creative as a child but aside from perfecting his drawings of ninja turtles, he discovered a strong passion for music. Starting in 4th grade he sang in choir and played french horn and trombone. When he was 12, he started playing the guitar and turning his poems into lyrics, “Because that’s what poems are, they are lyrics… and I’ve been doing that ever since. I also do a little DJing here and there, but I think guitar has always stuck with me.”
Art is beautiful. It is one universal language everyone can come together on."
Chris’s meeting with Sir Daniel Winn was organized by the Art Acquisitions Manager. They had dinner together and quickly realized their views on the world aligned. “He is an exceptional person with a lot of heart, care and passion. We are both Gemini – his birthday is only 2 days apart from mine and there are a lot of similarities in how we perceive the world. His perception has been a direct energy into what he puts into his art and that could very well be why I have such a magnetic draw to it. He is a wonderful person. I don’t know anyone else that is on his level and has the volume of sincerity and care that he presents.”
Chris currently owns 7 sculptures and about a dozen paintings from Winn Slavin Gallery and they are all exceptional pieces of art that everyone enjoys. His favorite piece is The Healer: Macrocosm – a painting of a physician holding the earth in his hands. “It is a recent piece that I acquired, and it falls in line with what I do with TelevisitMD. We are helping people across the planet. With telehealth we can see patients in war torn countries providing them with American knowledge and expertise.” Symbolism is a lot about reflection on life - where you came from or where you are going. These works are all spiritualistic to Chris. One of the paintings he owns is called Receiving, another one is called Duality, “it’s basically two females back-to-back – one with open eyes, one with closed eyes - a yin yang type of reflection on life.” His latest acquisition is a glass sculpture by Toland Sands that illuminates and reflects different colors of light from within it. It looks like the glass was actually sculpted in the center of it. “It is a cool piece to look at, it catches your eye.”
"I was born to a single mother with two kids so it's not easy to get out of that rut..."
Chris regularly donates to Breast Cancer Society in Florida and he is passionate about helping children in need as well as the homeless. He is also planning to donate most his art to Winn Slavin Museum. “It’s always nice to give. You are not going to take anything with you when you leave this world so for me the best thing is to help others. I’ve always had that type of heart – helping others, even when I didn’t have much or anything at all. I was born to a single mother with two kids so it’s not easy to get out of that rut but working hard and never giving up and always being dedicated and getting back up after being knocked down brought me to where I am today, put me in the position that I’m in and helped me be very successful.”
When asked what he would say to someone considering getting into art collecting, Chris says, “It starts with one piece. You then learn more about the art world and the opportunities it provides, and it takes you in another direction (…) Your curiosity has put you at an exceptional place in life. Art speaks for itself. It’s not just something you can appreciate and own for yourself but it’s something in the art world that you can take part in. You can donate these works to museums for other people to appreciate. Plus, if you have it in your home, people may be able to perceive you in another way. I highly recommend it. Art is beautiful. It is one universal language everyone can come together on.”
Behind a man rooted in healthcare and technology is a collection of art that connects him to spirit. -
