The Metropolitan Museum of Art:
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates, Central Park, New York
April 6, 2004–July 25, 2004
The Erving and Joyce Wolf Gallery, 1st floor
This exhibition documents the evolution of the widely anticipated outdoor work of art The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979–2005, conceived by the husband-and-wife collaborators Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Scheduled for presentation during 16 days in February 2005, the completed project will consist of 7,500 saffron-colored gates set up at 12-foot intervals along 23 miles of pedestrian walkways that lace New York's Central Park.
Mr. Wilson, I wonder - knowing you spend a great deal of time in the Park - what you might think of this project? (if you have posted on this already, my apologies).
It's here.
TY. please excuse.
(I did search for "christo" and every post mentioning any "christopher" came up. I should have gone through them... well, anyway the exhibition is new.)
My mini-rant (linking to Alex's post).
Maybe I’m becoming a philistine in my old age, or just hanging around with too many birdwatchers instead of artists, but I’m not looking forward to The Gates. Actually, I always disliked Christo, but that was pretty much a requirement in art school. His early oil barrels, lame politics and all, are probably his best work; the wrapping business is a vaguely interesting idea, but mostly he strikes me as a lily-gilder and a publicity-hound.
Not quite as objectionable is the smaller-scale component of the Whitney Biennial now on view (or soon to come) in the Park, although I must say the David Altmejd werewolf heads are pretty bad: like an undergrad with a glue gun trying to join Smithson to Damien Hirst via costume jewelry. Try explaining that to the little old lady birdwatchers. The Kusama and Vivid Focus stuff sounds a little more promising, but I’m afraid I’ll probably be looking up into the trees instead, as the migration should be picking up by then…
...and now I'm reminded of my favorite public sculpture (and this thread) gleefully destroyed by genuine philistines.
thanks for asking Selma! I never would've sought out that excellent essay by Alex. You DMTree-ers are such a bunch of brainiacs!
"Throughout its history there has been a dialectic between an “elitist” and a “populist” concept of the Park." ...I live near a park (very small one) with similar tension. I think it's a normal urban park problem. My sympathies tend towards the populist (at my park its a battle between Portuguese soccer teams, and nice white urban ecologists who want to make architectural reference to pre-existing waterways in the form of brass maps and embedded fish shapes ...erg) but I object to the Christo on these grounds as well. Having spent an hour on a park bench in Central Park on Good Friday, watching a kid learn to ride her bike and eavesdropping on softball players ("I was dating this older woman, she's like 40, but I just got a motorcycle and we broke up") it seems to me that people are finding their way to enjoyment of the space quite well without big orange banners hanging over their heads. The idea seems like a sort of hypothesis about abstraction (like when people undertake urban planning based on designs that will look nice later on a map) that is frankly insulting on the ground.
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Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates, Central Park, New York
April 6, 2004–July 25, 2004
The Erving and Joyce Wolf Gallery, 1st floor
This exhibition documents the evolution of the widely anticipated outdoor work of art The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979–2005, conceived by the husband-and-wife collaborators Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Scheduled for presentation during 16 days in February 2005, the completed project will consist of 7,500 saffron-colored gates set up at 12-foot intervals along 23 miles of pedestrian walkways that lace New York's Central Park.
Mr. Wilson, I wonder - knowing you spend a great deal of time in the Park - what you might think of this project? (if you have posted on this already, my apologies).
- selma 4-12-2004 11:58 pm
It's here.
- jim 4-13-2004 12:37 am [add a comment]
TY. please excuse.
- selma 4-13-2004 12:39 am [add a comment]
(I did search for "christo" and every post mentioning any "christopher" came up. I should have gone through them... well, anyway the exhibition is new.)
- selma 4-13-2004 12:41 am [add a comment]
My mini-rant (linking to Alex's post).
- tom moody 4-13-2004 2:56 am [add a comment]
Maybe I’m becoming a philistine in my old age, or just hanging around with too many birdwatchers instead of artists, but I’m not looking forward to The Gates. Actually, I always disliked Christo, but that was pretty much a requirement in art school. His early oil barrels, lame politics and all, are probably his best work; the wrapping business is a vaguely interesting idea, but mostly he strikes me as a lily-gilder and a publicity-hound.
Not quite as objectionable is the smaller-scale component of the Whitney Biennial now on view (or soon to come) in the Park, although I must say the David Altmejd werewolf heads are pretty bad: like an undergrad with a glue gun trying to join Smithson to Damien Hirst via costume jewelry. Try explaining that to the little old lady birdwatchers. The Kusama and Vivid Focus stuff sounds a little more promising, but I’m afraid I’ll probably be looking up into the trees instead, as the migration should be picking up by then…
- alex 4-13-2004 4:24 am [add a comment]
...and now I'm reminded of my favorite public sculpture (and this thread) gleefully destroyed by genuine philistines.
- alex 4-13-2004 6:05 am [add a comment]
thanks for asking Selma! I never would've sought out that excellent essay by Alex. You DMTree-ers are such a bunch of brainiacs!
"Throughout its history there has been a dialectic between an “elitist” and a “populist” concept of the Park." ...I live near a park (very small one) with similar tension. I think it's a normal urban park problem. My sympathies tend towards the populist (at my park its a battle between Portuguese soccer teams, and nice white urban ecologists who want to make architectural reference to pre-existing waterways in the form of brass maps and embedded fish shapes ...erg) but I object to the Christo on these grounds as well. Having spent an hour on a park bench in Central Park on Good Friday, watching a kid learn to ride her bike and eavesdropping on softball players ("I was dating this older woman, she's like 40, but I just got a motorcycle and we broke up") it seems to me that people are finding their way to enjoyment of the space quite well without big orange banners hanging over their heads. The idea seems like a sort of hypothesis about abstraction (like when people undertake urban planning based on designs that will look nice later on a map) that is frankly insulting on the ground.
- sally mckay 4-13-2004 6:17 am [add a comment]