Walls, almost synonymous with Berlin and
this not only because of the cold war which existed from 1961 to 1989.
Already by the middle of the 19th century, Berlin held the world record as
the city with the highest number of walls. Prussian bureaucracy, under
police direction, had, in fact, carried on the project, which by Hegemann
was called "Stone Berlin". The term, terrible but corresponding
to the conditions of life and lodgings, speaks for itself: barracks to
rent. In some quarters of the city these buildings take up vast areas. In
spite of the destructions which still took place during and after the war,
these buildings have been preserved very well. Remnants of advertising
posters or pieces of edifices give a glimpse of their story. However,
altogether they are not able to hide their desolation. Notwithstanding
this, the artist Deanna Galletto has succeeded in wrenching aesthetic
stimuli from these walls. With many macro Polaroid photographs, she
realised a kind of topographic inventory of all the possible
particularities, as for example, the coupling together of materials such
as metal and concrete, Liberty ornaments and old painting remains that
come to light under the coloured surfaces as a real chewing-gum stuck to a
wall. In doing this, the
artist follows a procedure which permits her to obtain the most faithful
photography reproduction possible, in proportion, of the chosen wall
pieces. This scrupulous approach to history and to the history of the
city, through the walls of its houses, has given life to a sort of sketch
book that collects the works exhibited in Berlin. The paintings are
assembled one beside the other in a way to respect a topographic order,
and form in such a configuration, a symbolic plan of the city. The
building materials used for the pictures: chalk, sand, mineral pigments,
confer to the paintings a tactile fascination similar to that of the walls.
Another variant of the Berliner Mauern is given by the engravings realised in two or three
colours. It is incredible how the artist succeeds in showing such a
variety of forms and colours, starting from "chippings of walls",
with the quick passer-by has rather the impression of being suffocated by
the quantity the apparent homogeneity of the sea of grey stone walls.
J oachim v. Klein Berlin, Mai 1997
