Hans Erni - Swiss News

ART & CULTUREMother with Child, 1975In one endless flowing line, Erni created for his fans mostlydoves, but some people got lovers – another favourite Erni motif.With drawings and plain autographs alike, he swooped his penaround in a circle to end the movement in a symbol of harmonyand unity.Apparently not fatigued by any of this, Erni then sat down fora TV-interview and told the interviewer he’d been studying thewall since it was unveiled … and was thinking maybe it neededto be extended on both sides – an idea he was going to work onfirst-thing when he got back to his studio.Making the UN “transparent”As I watched Erni, with his trademark tousled hair and stillhandsomefeatures, his good nature and a smile as ready and openas a child’s, I thought of what he had told me the previous dayduring a phone interview about the Mur de la Paix, or Peace Wall.“The wall is meant to connect the important work that is goingon inside the building with the aspirations of all of us on theoutside to achieve a truly universal message,” he said. By expressingthe core issues of the UN on the wall, he sought to make theUN “transparent” and the wall a symbol of what unites – not separates– all things. He believes “universality can become a reality”.If this sense of unity and flow is the message that has consistentlynurtured Erni’s art (and his way of expressing it clearlyholds enormous appeal), at the ceremony something else cameto the fore. His persona, and creative, productive longevity werealso cause for celebration. As if by his very presence, he wascommunicating aspirational and inspirational heart-to-heartmessages of energy and hope that resonated as a vision andmodel for a long life, well lived. This, fused with the universalvalues espoused on Ta Panta Rei itself, made the inaugurationthe extraordinarily vibrant and energising occasion that it was.Hans Erni’s Peace Wall: Ta Panta ReiIn two parts, on either side of the flag-decked entrance gate to theEuropean headquarters of the United Nations, leading off from Placedes Nations, the work is two metres (6.5 feet) high and 60 meters(around 197 feet) long.Predominantly blue, it features classic Erni iconography in whichthe dove of peace figures prominently. The work was mounted bycraftsmen who spent a month assembling hundreds of weatherprooftiles onto which Erni’s drawings – first scanned into a computer – hadbeen projected, and then spray-painted using new, experimentaltechnology.The wall was commissioned by the City of Geneva, but it was notErni’s first Geneva project. Others include a corporate commissionfrom Rolex and the Homage to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, adorningthe façade of the Manor department store now occupying the siteof the house where the philosopher was born.Switzerland celebrated joining the UN in 2002 with an exhibitionof Erni’s paintings, drawings, sculptures, book illustrations andtapestries at the UN in Geneva.Erni was a guest at World Meteorological Day celebrations at theWMO headquarters in 2006, when an exhibition of his paintingsentitled “Forces of Nature” was staged.And in 2007, the Geneva cantonal government presented formerUN Secretary General Kofi Annan with his portrait, painted by Erni,to be hung in the UN’s New York headquarters.More about Hans Erni:www.hans-erni.ch and www.verkehrshaus.ch50swiss news ⏐ december 2009