When a Los Angeles gallery mounted a retrospective of Kent Twitchell's work earlier this year, the acclaimed painter figured the one thing everyone would want to see was his ``lost'' Michael Jackson mural.

Twitchell's vision, showing the entertainer decked out in a white suit and matching fedora, stood 100 feet tall and 60 feet wide. It was so big it had to be mounted in sections across a two-story gallery wall, the bottom strung out along the floor.

Visitors made a beeline straight past it, heading for Twitchell's two-story portrait of Steve McQueen.

How things have changed.

``Since Michael died my phone is just ringing off the hook,'' says Look gallery owner Jerri Levi, who mounted the April exhibition. Collectors from around the world have inquired about buying the mural, she says. Others ask whether it will be displayed again.

But for now Twitchell is keeping it safely rolled up and hidden away.

``It would be nice to see something happen with it eventually,'' he says. ``But I don't want to just hawk it, and I wouldn't want to get involved in something that might be seen as cheesy.''

The mural was originally planned for the side of Hollywood's historic El Capitan Theatre building, and Twitchell, whose works dot the Los Angeles skyline, collaborated with Jackson on it for three years.

The project was shelved in 1993. Twitchell says he was never told why but suspects that Jackson's having become the target of a child-molestation investigation played a role.

Originally Jackson wanted to dress in black leather for the mural, Twitchell says, but he told him he'd prefer a classic 1930s Hollywood pose, outfitting him in something Cary Grant would have worn.

``He said, `Oh yes, I can see that,' '' Twitchell recalls.

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