Posted on 02/12/2005 9:05:35 AM PST by Vision
NEW YORK (AP) - With flowing fabric the color of a sunrise, "The Gates" - a massive public art installation - was unfurled Saturday for the start of a 16-day stay transforming miles of footpaths in Central Park.
The project opened with Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropping the first piece of saffron-colored fabric to the cheers of a huge crowd. He was joined by exhibit creators Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
The crowd counted down the seconds before Bloomberg, a longtime backer of the project, opened the exhibition at 8:30 a.m.
The weather was windy and cold as the first fabric dropped from one of the 7,500 16-foot-high gates, creating what the artists billed as "a visual golden river" along 23 miles of the park's footpaths. More than 1 million square feet of fabric was used by the artists.
Its official title - "The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005" - refers to the artists' conception of the idea 26 years ago. It was expected to take about two hours to drop the fabric from all the gates.
"It's a bit insane, but that's why everybody is here," said Ali Naqui, who was brought to the unveiling against his will by his fiancee.
Among the first folks there were 17 fourth-graders from an elementary school in Queens. The group boarded a bus before sunrise and made the trip into Manhattan, where they were suitably impressed by the spectacle.
"It's a waste of money, but it's fabulous," said student Shakana Jayson. "It brings happiness when you look at it."
Visitors to the park had already admired the vinyl gates, even with the fabric still tucked inside "cocoons" on top of the structures.
"I think it's fantastic," said Dominique Borel, who was walking her dog, Mickey, on Friday. "I love it. I think it's exhilarating." Mickey was wearing an orange scarf around his neck in honor of the project.
The artists have said there is no best place to see the piece, but art connoisseurs and the merely curious staked out the best views. James Ellis said he planned to see the piece from Belvedere Castle.
"February's always been a dreary month for me, so I think it kind of spices it up a little bit and makes me want to come out to the park at a time when I usually wouldn't," Ellis said.
The artists are paying for the project - which could be as much as $21 million - themselves.
"I can't promise, particularly since this is New York, that everyone will love 'The Gates,' but I guarantee that they will all talk about it," Bloomberg said Friday at a news conference with the artists. "And that's really what innovative, provocative art is supposed to do."
Although Christo and Jeanne-Claude's have invested so much time and effort in the project, they were reticent to discuss "The Gates."
"It's very difficult," explained Christo. "You ask us to talk. This project is not involving talk. It's a real, physical space. It's not necessary to talk. You spend time, you experience the project."
"The Gates" is the pair's first major project in New York City. In their most recent project, "Wrapped Reichstag" (Berlin, 1995), they used a silvery fabric to wrap the building, creating a flow of vertical folds.
The city has said tens of thousands of visitors may come to "The Gates," over 16 days. Some of them have seen other works by the artists, who have created temporary art projects around the world.
Sibyl Rubottom, who saw the artists'"The Umbrellas," in which 3,100 umbrellas were opened in California and Japan in 1991, said she started planning her trip to New York from San Diego last spring.
Rubottom said she planned to return to the park on Saturday and would go to an "apres-'Le Gates' opening party" at a friend's house. Rubottom was wearing an orange jacket and scarf, and her orange eyeglass frames happened to match, too.
"I dressed for the occasion," she said.
...and in turn the private collectors get invited to nifty parties with free liquor.
Yeah, right. You sure pegged us there! Good comparison of talent, too. Orange curtains require as much, if not more, artistic skill as the sculpture of David. [/sarcasm]
"Oh, naked body! Blasphemy! And for what purpose? There are people everywhere, why do we need this crap?"
Part of the money is coming from the sale of Christo's preliminary drawings for this incursion--sort of as if he were Leonardo.
Christo thinks that's okay, because he has very expensive liability insurance. That's how much he cares about New Yorkers.
Those gates look just like the washing devices that were part of the local automatic car wash until it went brushless. (Same color, too) I wonder if this "artist" is paying royalties to the engineer that designed it?
Here is a work by Christo that was commissioned for the Bicentennial in 1976Looks like an AN/FPS-108 Cobra Dane ICBM phased array RADAR missile building ... maybe that *was* his inspiration ...
HIS HAPPY ART WILL KILL US ALL!
WE'RE DOOMED, DOOMED I TELL YOU!
I spent several hours in the park today and was imrpessed with this installation. Clearly hundreds of thousands. Thousands of people taking pictures everwhere. This was a NY event and will provide the stimulus for visitors to take a new look at art everywhere.
I have to say, seeing the gates blowing in the wind, it looks better than I thought it would.
...will provide the stimulus for visitors to take a new look at art everywhere.
No it won't. People generally hate art. And they really hate art that crosses over into the realm of the abstract. And they despise art with a price tag of more than $8.00
I'm wondering, how do you get into this kind of business? I can draw something that looks better than that, and they are making (and spending) million$.
Im going to post Gate pics later that I took today. Very cool, I wish there was more wind today, but I have 16 days to go back and take more pics.
I guarantee that the crowd in the Park today that was snapping away with their cameras represented a broad cross section of backgrounds and that almost all might think differently after seeing the installation today.
I also guarantee that in our 21st century techno society a majority relate to abstract art more than pre-1900 fine art.
What you saw in Central Park were New Yorkers and tourists and people with enough money to travel to NYC. That's a relatively small percentage of the population. You'd see the same people in the Met on a Sunday afternoon.
The idea of something without utility that is also costly is offensive to most people. They view it as either a scam or a waste of money. The idea of spending $10,000 on a piece of art for themselves -- a relatively modest sum -- is offensive to most people, unless that piece of art increases in value.
Slalom!
I saw a lot of people who did not look wealthy to me, plus how much does it really cost to come visit NYC. I think it's in the reach of most Americans.
The idea of something without utility that is also costly is offensive to most people. They view it as either a scam or a waste of money. The idea of spending $10,000 on a piece of art for themselves -- a relatively modest sum -- is offensive to most people, unless that piece of art increases in value.
They spent 10 times the amount of money on the inaguration which lasted only a few hours. Were you or most Americans offended by that also? I would bet that the Freeper who bought the Christo sketch in the thread above knows how much his sketch has appreciated in value. That being said, who ever said most art that you can buy costs $10,000?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.