Battle rages on over building’s art

By Christine Byrd

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

With as many makeovers as Madonna, she’s caught the eyes
of drivers on Wilshire Boulevard for a year and a half.

And now the image of the Statue of Liberty is gagged in a
patriotic red ribbon and the artist’s case about putting up a
sign without a permit sits stalled in appellate court.

Under the cloak of darkness on Aug. 10, artist Mike McNeilly
hung the new banner of Lady Liberty over the side of the Westwood
Medical Plaza building at 10921 Wilshire Blvd.

“Know censorship” reads the sign on the seven-story
high face of Liberty.

“It’s k-n-o-w instead of n-o because it’s
about knowledge of First Amendment rights,” McNeilly
said.

The artist, who has painted large murals and advertisements on
the sides of buildings before, said this new banner was a response
to the Democratic National Convention and restrictions put on
protesters.

“It’s almost like a police state mentality where the
First Amendment is disregarded for the sake of politicians and
their party,” he said.

“I choose to do my protest outside of a cage,”
McNeilly said, referring to the fenced-in areas outside Staples
Center where protesters were restricted.

“They want to tell us, these politicians, what we can
watch,” he said, citing vice presidential candidate Joseph
Lieberman and Tipper Gore’s involvement in bills restricting
media and communication.

He is even outraged that Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove,
decided to withdraw her speaking spot at the DNC because of a furor
surrounding a fundraiser planned at the Playboy Mansion.

“That’s hypocrisy,” he said. “What are
they afraid of, the people?”

McNeilly admits he likes to get on his “soapbox,”
but censorship was not the primary idea behind the mural.

He said the original mural was to be a monument to veterans for
Memorial Day 1999. But when police arrested him for putting up a
sign without a permit, McNeilly began fighting against what he
calls censorship.

It began in February 1999 with a tear in the eye of the
half-completed Lady Liberty. Then, last April, McNeilly added a
black stripe reading “censored” across her face.

Before Memorial Day 2000, he hung a banner over the original
mural with images of Iwo Jima, fighter planes and a cemetery around
the statue’s face, again, to honor the veterans, he said. And
now this.

The artist says the new banner, like all the alterations before
it, follows the same theme that originally inspired the mural.

“It’s still liberty; we haven’t strayed from
that course,” he said.

But for city officials such as councilman Mike Feuer, it’s
a matter of the law. In fact, McNeilly has been slapped with 16
criminal charges for putting up a sign without a permit.

The building owner, who supports McNeilly, also faces
charges.

The case is in appellate court, waiting for a ruling on the
constitutionality of the law McNeilly is charged with breaking.

The city councilman’s office did not return phone
calls.

Other community members paint a more sinister picture of
McNeilly and his motives, claiming it is all part of an ad campaign
for the movie industry.

“The bottom line is this is advertising, it’s not
about free speech,” said Laura Lake, a Westwood resident and
candidate for city council.

She said the mural was really a billboard for a movie and that
the company is still funding McNeilly.

“If he wants to do a mural, he has to get a permit and he
didn’t do that,” she explained.

Lake said it is more important to see the mural taken down than
to wait while charges against the artist and building owner go
through the slow court process.

“I do believe it’s wrong and he’s flaunting
the law by putting up new ones,” Lake said.

She said she is frustrated with the way Feuer, whose seat she
will be vying for this fall, has handled the situation.

“The more expedient thing is to get it down,” she
said.

But McNeilly won’t take the mural down ““ in his
eyes, that would be letting the city win.

“This particular theme has been up longer than any one
I’ve put up in my life,” McNeilly said, explaining why
it is so often redone.

McNeilly described the banner as a photo montage embellished
with his own art. But he shied away from discussing the art aspect,
saying the new banners are really about censorship.

While he waits for the ruling from the appellate court, McNeilly
said he considers the possibility the case may reach the U.S.
Supreme Court, but he said this case may take years to settle.