The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 to divide East from West Germany both geographically & politically. It stood for 28 years as an often deadly exercise in futility (in my opinion).

    The Berlin Wall Art Collection was begun to carry on in the spirit of the artwork that adorned the west facing side of the Berlin wall. This art was lost when souvenir seekers chipped it apart as the wall came down in 1989. The east facing side of the wall remained unmarked (except by the odd bullet hole or blood stain), because approaching the east side of the wall meant death by a guard's bullet).

    When the wall came down in 1989, an American bought several tons of the East facing side & started an art project.

    The Berlin Wall Art Project originally consisted of a panel that selected prominent artists to create upon sections of the wall. The works then became part of the official Berlin Wall Art Collection which toured the states & appeared in museums all over the world. The official Berlin Wall Art collection consists of 148 original works by artists from around the world. I will post pictures of them on the official web site for this project, (which I am currently designing).

    The project has been dormant for several years as the owner was forced to move on to more pressing demands of his life.

    I became involved with this project for 2 key reasons. I was probably 10 years old when my father (a politics & history buff) told me about the Berlin Wall. I am convinced that my reaction to learning about the Wall is part of what made me into an often rebellious punk rocker with a penchant for political activism. Why? Because it all just seemed so ridiculous.

    My childhood reaction to the wall still rings true for me. How can men behave like such children? I saw the Berlin wall as equivalent to me drawing a line down the center of the sandbox & then engaging in the futile practice of trying to keep my sisters from throwing sand at me from the other side.

    This was the first time I saw that grown-ups did NOT have it all figured out.

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    My other main reason for getting involved in this project is that I've been an artist of one kind or another my whole life, & I believe that art can provide glimpses of humans figuring things out on higher levels of consciousness. I believe great art can be like peeking behind the curtain at the proverbial wizard to see how things all work together to create the big production we call LIFE. Therefore it seemed a tragedy that a collection that seems to me, to have an ability to do such things should be locked up in a shipping warehouse in Maine.

    The Berlin Wall officially claimed 192 lives while it stood as the literal divide of a modern human city & the figurative divide between the two largest ideologies that governed humankind at the time.

    Meanwhile, the often childish proponents of these two ideologies held the equivalent of giant lethal water guns at each other's heads. Their water guns unfortunately had the all consuming fate of total nuclear destruction within them.

    The threat of these guns still lingers with us. However, now, instead of being taught to duck & cover, we are reminded that at any moment we could get the news that a major city has turned to cinder via a surplus Soviet suitcase nuke.

    ..And so, the deadly ideological divisions between humankind continue, but so does art & the spirit that seeks to unify, heal, bring peace where there is violence & light where there is darkness. In that spirit I became involved in The Berlin Wall Art Project & continue with my own art..

In ∞ Love,
   Eric Haase (August, '05)
   

The entire collection is verified by the American Verification Association: Freeport , Maine. More information on the project as well as pictures of all the works in the official collection are forthcoming.

    Several large East facing sections of the Berlin Wall remain & are now being made available to artists to paint, sculpt or otherwise create with.

    Each piece has a certificate of authentication from the American Verification Association.

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