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The Gates

Sekhmet

05:17 / 26.02.05

The Gates. In New York's Central Park. Come on, it's only the biggest installation piece the U.S. has seen in years, and there's no thread on it yet?

What do the arty set think?

sleazenation

08:25 / 26.02.05

It somehow seems less impressive than wrapping up the Reichstag...

But perhaps because of its park location its a bit more interactive, fun and therefore meaningful to your average NY joe...

Tryphena Absent

15:09 / 26.02.05

I would love to see the gates in person but unfortunately there's no way that's going to happen. I've seen some pictures of the snow in central park and these great orange swathes of cloth and they were absolutely stunning. The idea is certainly good, I'd like to hear the view of some people who live in NY, the artistic merit, emotional reaction? What are they like?

Tryphena Absent

20:53 / 09.04.05

Does anyone have any further thoughts on this?

I find Jeanne-Claude and Christo quite interesting as artists because they focus so thoroughly on the environment around their work while they are in the process of planning and creating it. Although I think their earlier and smaller scale wrapped pieces are entertaining there's no doubt that the wrapped buildings and walls are monumental in stature. Yet they didn't really wrap anything when they built the gates, it's not possible to wrap Central Park, do you think that they were attempting to give that impression- their work is certainly dependent on the surrounding area in this sense- or trying to do something different?

sleazenation

21:53 / 09.04.05

But their work is not limited to large scale interactive pieces, in fact their website notes that the pair finance their larger pieces using more conventional works.

They earn all of the money through the sale of the preparatory studies, early works from the 50s and 60s and original lithographs on other subjects.

Tryphena Absent

21:55 / 09.04.05

But the very fact that they fund the larger and monumental works through the smaller pieces suggests to me that there interest lies in the huge scale work. I think there large works are certainly their most interesting because of the interaction that it involves.

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