Go here for more............ http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~noun/cristos-gates/
Posted on 06/12/2005 4:21:54 PM PDT by Republicanprofessor
Some of this is a rather erudite article (especially in the middle), but I found the last paragraph very insightful. Kuspit mentions the spiritual and healing qualities of the Gates, especially in contrast to other controversial, and less successful, siteworks like Serra's Tilted Arc, also in NYC.
Plus it's been a slow day for art; time for a post.
Art ping.
Let Sam Cree and I know if you want on or off this list.
Let me know if you want on or off this list.
I didn't write this, but I feel much the same way. Plus we'll do Christo and Smithson and others later on.
If you want to read what I wrote about Christo, check out this link.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1348194/posts
My appologies to those for whom this is a repetition.
If they want a gate, let them put up a Japanese torii. Then at least it would be beautiful to look at and well made.
They attracted a lot of attention, and everyone seemed to enjoy them
Go here for more............ http://www.math.sunysb.edu/~noun/cristos-gates/
I know many FReepers are skeptical. I just wish everyone could have walked through them. Minds might have been changed.
Did you visit them?
No, I didn't
Hi, professor, thanks much for this!
I must be obtuse, I note now that on you first "Christo Gates" thread, I made several posts, at least one of which was answered by you.
I generally agree with the elegant final paragraph in this essay, though I would qualify my agreement by saying that, IMO, interior decorating is a similar art, and similarly "spriritual." Same goes for commercial art.
Anyhow, I too saw the Gates, made a side trip on the way home from a visit with daugher in Syracuse, to Manhattan to see the Sorollas at the Hispanic Society, 155 St, and caught the Christos by mistake. Walked all the way across Central Park through them. Liked them, this is unavoidable, I think. True art. Good art.
Meanwhile, am somewhat tired after an overnight trip to Key Largo with wife dedicated to relaxing...will try to post tomorrow.
Very nice photo. I thought those things gave an almost medieval flavor to Central Park, if that is at all possible.
Check out the link. It's a slide show. Just wait and the pic will change every 10 sec
That's excellent!
Unfortunately, I did not get to experience the Gates...and that is what I find so profound about Christos. His art is so tangible. I took my boys to see the Umbrellas that were set up on the mountains north of LA a few years ago. I remember driving thru the exhibition seeing the yellow fabric looking like poppies in a field. It was breathtaking. We pulled off the freeway and walked up to one of the structures where we took many pictures and spoke with a docent who told us about the twin exhibition in Japan at the time only with blue fabric. I really liked the Umbrellas and wish they had been a permanent part of the drive to LA.
Glad you got to see the Gates and felt much the same way.
I have a friend who's a ceramicist, or potter, depending on how elite you are. She loves making "crafts" because then people can hold her "art" for each day, for drinking coffee and the like. If architecture can be spiritual, I guess the decoration of the interior can be as well. Sometimes I think interior decoration may be too materialistic, if you have to change your decor every few years to keep up with the Joneses. But if you hone your living environment (particularly with artworks on the walls) to reflect your inner self, then that's great. (But what do I know?)
I think that's incredible that you saw the Umbrellas. I always thought it was a solid umbrella; he used fabric then too?! Can you tell me any more? Give me more details. I've always been least fascinated by that project, maybe because the umbrellas seemed big, heavy and cumbersome. But maybe I was all wrong. Enlighten me!
That's what I was trying to say - the first part of the above...the "what do you know" part is that clearly you know plenty.
IMO, though, furniture, carpets, and all the implements and utensils that are in our homes qualify as art too. We have an old Eames chair as well as an old Knoll, plus various and sundry midcentuy pieces that we accumulated over time, I understand a lot of that stuff is in the MOMA in New York. I'll probably try to go there (have never been) next time I'm in Manhattan. My SIL, who lives there, advises me that one can avoid the $18 admission fee by going Thursday night, when it's free.
Aalto vase
" have a friend who's a ceramicist, or potter, depending on how elite you are."
In figure drawing class the other day I referred to "composition" as layout. The instructor had the grace to find humor in that.
Oh, yes, the Eames chair and old Knoll are DEFINITELY art! I'm impressed. (Most of what we have has been in the family....luckily, they had good taste to collect 50 years ago what are nice "antiques" today. So we have family history in the objects as well as "class." It's nice to see the same furniture in old pictures.)
I also saw the umbrella intallations in CA. They were basically giant beach umbrellas, about 20' tall. They were the same golden saffron color as the seasonal poppies that blanket the same site in early spring.
I think I would have liked it better if it had been co-ordinated with the poppy bloom, instead of the sere fall. It seemed very sparse, perhaps overly ambitious against the natural features. I've liked other Christo stuff better.
Here is some more midcentury art that you can't hang on a wall except in image form:
The E-8, intoduced 1949, and the E-6 from the 30's, by EMD. I understand that they are examples of Art Deco design. I have always loved them and thought them beautiful, in any case. When I was a child, the family rode on both trains pictured.
I saw one other Christo "installation," if that is the correct word? The draped islands in Miami some years ago. They didn't come off as well as the Gates, IMO, but they did cause tremendous excitement here.
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