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Christo & Jeanne-Claude's Gates
Posted On Thursday April 19, 2007 By Schlomo & Lulu-Belle
I actually like some of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art, The Valley Curtain and Running Fence for example. This art making duo is probably best known for wrapping various large structures around the world. The Maysles brothers’ films about Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s previous projects are entertaining and interesting. The Gates, a series of over 7000 vinyl and steel structures with hanging “saffron” colored fabric, transformed New York’s Central Park into an enormous art installation in February of 2005. It took them 26 years to raise the funds for the project, but they eventually got it done. The Gates were only up for something like 15 days. The interesting thing about The Gates, and all of Christo and Jeane-Claude’s work for that matter, is that the projects are never intended to be permanent. The Gates were only there to temporarily change our experience of Central Park. For me this wasn’t one of their best works. The “saffron” fabric just looked like orange burlap and the gates themselves felt clumsy and cheap. My girlfriend and I often walk our dogs in the park. That gave us the chance to experience them on many different occasions. It certainly provided us something to talk about at the time. And the dogs seemed to appreciate The Gates. They peed on dozens of them. Oh well, I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Tags: art, central, cristo, dogs, gates, manhattan, park