Posted on 02/21/2005 4:01:06 PM PST by Republicanprofessor
My photos included below.
If you haven't seen them, and if you can get to NYC in the next 5 days to do so, you won't regret it.
The finest collection of superfluous outdoor tangerine shower curtains I have ever seen. Breathtaking.
Orange sheets on poles.....that isn't art....I'm sorry.
I'm hanging out my red shower curtains on the clothesline tomorrow you think the press will cover them.
I'm frustrated that I'm such a klutz that I can't get my images on line. Sorry.
Great description! I'd love to see them, but I don't think I'll be able to get up there.
I saw the Running Fence (in fact, I used to drive by it on a regular basis) many a long year ago. I scoffed at it at first, but the wonderful thing was that it really did make you look at the hills in a way you normally didn't bother to do. I think a lot of Christo's art is simply that he puts something in place that makes you see other things that were there all along - but that you never noticed.
This could be a shape, a line, a color. And somehow you've walked by it every day without noticing it, until suddenly...
I couldn't see the photos, btw. Did you post them? Thanks!
Perhaps Christo can finance the next Presidential Inaugural so we won't have to hear the liberal whining about moeny which could be better be spent on the Iraqis or others in need.
Try to open your eyes and mind a bit. Contemporary art is difficult, but this is so much better than most. You really have to be there. That's why I wanted to post this as soon as I could upon return home.
Thank you RP for your posting and your photos. I too would encourage everyone who can, to get down to Central Park and experience it for yourself.
Central Park on Sunday was alive. Alive in the dead of Winter with people, and with the Gates.
From Central Park South up to 114th Street, there were masses of people, all kinds of people, families, children, people who came from all over the tri-State area and all over the world.
Everyone talked to each other, and shared their thoughts. Many admitted they had come with an attitude, sure they would hate the Gates. Almost all went on their way smiling.
Seeing the Park and the Gates,one can't separate one from the other, in the fading sunlight, from all different perspectives was a delightful feast for the eyes and imagination.
Depending one's taste, (or lack thereof), one might call them nice decorations or ornaments.
But it isn't ART by any means.
I say this as someone who makes a living as an artist who appreciates true artistry and/or craftsmanship in a wide variety of media and never had to take a dime of public money or litter the countryside with fabric to do so.
Christo doesn't take public money. He raises all the money himself to put these installations into public spaces.
Forgot to mention - hotels have been full in New York for the last week and will be full until the Gates are taken down, because people have come from all over the country and the world to see it. I assume NYC pays for the police, the clean up, etc., but the city is making a lot of money on this exhibit.
I'd like to see them in person, they look pretty cool. I don't see any pictures.
I may be totally wrong but I'm confident that I will be quickly corrected if I am. Christo is so admired that he doesn't need for any of his truly awesome efforts or "works of art" to be paid for by John Q Public. I am always interested in what he does.
And I don't regret it for an instant.
Got some help and got three images up. Have many, many more; it's so hard to choose.
No thanks. I'll take Monet, Degas and Renoir every time. Arranging fabric on the landscape to me is just so much self-indulgent silliness.
Yes, I understood that there was no tax money in this particular installation. Wasn't aware that he had NEVER taken ANY public money... Was under the impression he got a good wad of taxpayer money for one of the things he did on the west coast..
My apologies for not being absolutely clear ... I just have a general disdain for "artists" that can't make a living without government.
Thanks for the aerial view. Did you take those yourself? I wanted to get to the Met roof top garden for a view, but the line was way too long, and I was too anxious to get out there myself to walk.
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