An Artful of Wall

Is this irony or just a curtain, one wonders. The Iron Curtain and consequently Berlin Wall was brought down almost 2 decades back, but the remnants are equally disturbing. This time, the art community in Los Angeles is caught in a strange battle against the Wende Museum. This museum has reportedly placed a few segments of the original Berlin wall on Wilshire Boulevard. Now, apparently, they have a houseful. Kent Twitchell, one of the artists whose larger than life paintings encompass the wall and sides of the freeways, wanted to book a couple of sections of the wall for portraits of John F Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. However, when he rushed of to give the finishing touches to his portraits, he was told something similar to "Sorry, house full, one painting allowed" by the organizers. The argument was that they anticipated only a single portrait, of Kennedy's and there was no room for another one.

Justinian Jampol, who has been instrumental in establishing the Wende Museum and the Archive of Cold War, had this to say over the issue - "I would take either one," he said. "It's just really a space issue, and Kent happened to do the Kennedy one first." But for Twitchell, it is far more a significant matter than just space. Jeri Levi, a curator who has worked with Twitchell was of the opinion that allowing Kennedy's and leaving out Reagan's portrait appears like a deliberate or unintentional censorship of Twitchell's work. But as if in a retreat, after all the brouhaha was created, Jampol said that it is not yet certain whether only 1 can be used. There is still a chance to display both the portraits. If the delivery of the 2 sections of the wall was delayed and they were without historic graffiti, they could squeeze the Reagan's portrait as well. But that would mean that first Kennedy's portrait would be displayed and then would be replaced by Reagan's at a point of time during the exhibition. The museum further has planned for a temporary wall to be placed across the Wilshire Boulevard and it will be toppled as a part of the midnight celebration of the completion of 2 decades since the historical incident happened.

Surely, the same Berlin wall, which inspired art all over the world, is proving a hindrance to that very art in this situation. But all said and done, there is no doubt that this wall is an epitome of all that humanity has ever faced.