Tom Wolfe serves a useful function in pointing out the foibles and pretensions of those whose balloon he wishes to burst, but Mr. Wolfe is no daisy himself. He's a dandy and as much a poseur as the social x-rays he charted decades ago. His agenda is part of the neo-conservative support system. It's not the intelligent and occasionally robust neo-conservatism of those who think things through and argue a case on the issues. Rather, he's one of those point-counterpoint for-and-against opinionators whom Dan Akron and Jane Curten used to parody so beautifully on Saturday Night Live back in the 70s. What Wolfe never says here is just how much the Viet Nam memorial has come to mean to the veterans who served and to their families. I was against the war, and I spent much of the 60s and early 70s arguing with the government over my status as a conscientious objector. The group of men with whom I sympathized most was the draftees who chose to serve. None of those whom I knew liked the war any better than I did, but they felt it their duty to serve as I felt it mine to resist. These veterans paid the price of their nation's engagement in a disastrous war when they served, and they paid the price when they came home to a nation that has yet to come to terms with what happened and what we did. The memorial in its simplicity and its stark account of names was an important step toward a truthful reckoning. This is precisely why it is so meaningful to the veterans who served. Hart was not recognized by the New York art world. Neither was Dick Higgins, or George Maciunas, or a host of others. On the other hand, Hart had a good run. He was well rewarded by the niche market to which he sold very well indeed. Much like Harry Jackson and the special breed of Western artists, or the hyperrealist painters who sell to movie-star and corporate bigwig collectors, he has his own niche and his niche has served him well. There is something to be said for these people. (I've written sympathetically about some of them, and so has Peter Frank.) However, Tom Wolfe isn't singing their song. More to the point, there is nothing wrong with skill, even though skill is not the only issue in art. When it comes to the Viet Nam memorial, however, the real skill comes in hearing the voice of those who served. This monument sings their praise as eloquently as the catalogue of ships in Homer's Iliad. It says to the modern world what the epitaph at Thermoplyae said to the ancients: "Go, tell the Spartans, that here -- obedient to their command -- we lie." Tom Wolfe misses that point. The shame is his. Hart may have gotten a raw deal in the New York art world, but he got rich. Maya Lin's sober, meaningful monument speaks for those who got a worse break and didn't live to collect their pension, either. -- Ken Friedman --
