We just came back from seeing Jean-Claude and Christo’s Gates in Central Park.
Wow.
The bright winter sun shone through the orange sheets. They fluttered and billowed in the wind. Their reflection shimmered in the melting snow puddles. Central Park was a new place. The white snow, the trees black with the melting snow, and the winding orange paths.
You could visit the Gates ten times in one day and have a different experience as the light and the weather changed.
The kids ran down the park paths. I ran ahead shooting pictures as fast as I could.
The Gates are the most important public art in New York City in years. Art has been the topic of conversation for the past week.
My sister laughed at all the nicknames that have been given to this exhibition. Shmatas on a Stick. Sheets in the Wind.
Toni wondered whether anyone should spend $20 million dollars on art when there was hunger in the world.
And Susan marvelled at the lack of corporate sponsorship signs and that everyone can experience art without a $20 admission fee or a long line.
This conversation and interest is fantastic. Other cities, like Chicago, have massive pieces of public art by Picasso and Chagall. New York City has always been lacking in public art, perhaps because the whole city is itself art. Instead, art is housed within hidden galleries and fortress-like museums.
The Gates is available to everyone. Its size and simplicity evoke immediate response. Millions of people looked at the park through new eyes.
Today, we ran through art on a warm winter day.
Apt. 11d 
Toni wondered whether anyone should spend $20 million dollars on art when there was hunger in the world.
Of course, millions of consumers have no qualms shelling out billions of dollars into the entertainment and sports industries every year, and yet this doesn’t cause a public outcry.
LikeLike
It’s funny to read such a positive “review” of The Gates after all the snickery coverage it gets in most places. It makes me wish I was still in Manhattan to see it first-hand.
LikeLike
“Today, we ran through art on a warm winter day.”
What a beautiful line, Laura. It’s poetry. I envy you and every else who can get to NY before the Gates are taken down.
LikeLike
I think the snickery mostly came from people who had read about it, rather than experienced it themselves.
Those who saw it and still snickered didn’t stop to ask themselves, “Why are all those people smiling?”
I’m now jealous. We went Saturday, so didn’t see it in snow.
LikeLike
The tabloid campaign against the gates is pretty silly and I’m pretty sure it isn’t work.
$20 million is pretty cheap for a major public event. It would build affordable housing to house 100 to 200 homeless families in New York City, or fund the preservation of existing affordable housing to house two to ten times as many.
But the same pundits that deride the gates want government to put a couple of billion into a football stadium that will bring in about as many people per year as the gates are doing in two and half weeks.
LikeLike
So why are they taking them down?
I want to see the gates too. Where’s the campaign to keep them up so more non-NYC people can see them?
LikeLike
Glad to see you’re getting in to the city. I remember the deliberations you went through moving out to the suburbs.
Wish I could have seen the art.
LikeLike
This exhibit reminds me vaguely of when the Washington monument was being renovated and covered temporarily by a blue, faux-brick sheath designed by architect Michael Graves (before he became a Target brand). In DC’s case, the project wasn’t meant to be public art but turned into something akin to it. The change was temporary, but it altered the way that resident Washingtonians looked at one of the most visible elements of their city, one often taken for granted. Some people actually came to prefer the monument with the addition, especially when it was illuminated at night. It was nice to experience for awhile…
LikeLike
I don’t think that they can keet the exhibit going past the two weeks. It would start looking shabby pretty quickly, and I think its temporality is part of the plan of the artists.
And Russell, I think the next plan is to cover part of the Colorado River right near Arkansas. People would ride on boats and look up at a sky of white sheet. Sounds neat, too.
LikeLike
At first look, those gates looked ridiculous IMHO in the pictures – big orange shower curtains, eh?
But, with the snow, it might be a nice ornament. Glad it’s temporary tho…..
Can’t help but miss the ole town and the continual controversy of the city!
LikeLike
NYC has some great public art, if you know where to look for it. My favorite is probably always going to be the Cow Parade, that was a lot of fun. But the bronze subway sculptures are terrific too.
LikeLike