"Color Me Orange" appeared in the New York Sun and Newsday, and was referenced on Gawker. In it, we asked for reader responses on what we knew was a controversial issue.
We did not realize how many readers were concerned, and how sharply they divided,
on the merits of the art and the appropriateness of the exhibit. We
received more letters than on any previous issue since the passing last August
of Laramie Boomerang Stern, the late Wonder Dog. In that case, the
writers were united in expressing admiration and affection for Boomer, and
condolences to Peggy, Jared, Kenan and me over our loss.
We have posted the Christo letters as a thread, in order of receipt.
We screen for obscenity and libel, but not for hostility, ideology or rage
or ideas. Of the first hundred letters, none was unacceptable.
1. February 15, 2005 1:17 PM
I asked you for your comments about The Gates and you were silent...and so
I decided to see them for myself. I've got an office now on 55th and 6th
and so walked over this noon to have a look.
I'm sure you've heard that the Park is jumping...streams of people...classes
on school kids...tourists (I guess) everyone walking through...especially
on such a nice day.
All I can say is that if these gates turned a different color every five
minutes, I might consider that there is a "beauty" aspect...but the color
is dull, the construction of them cheap and ugly and the "look" if you stand
in the right places....redundant.
The Christos know PR...absolutely....maybe if there had been a wind...but
we shouldn't need a wind to find grace and the Park overwhelms the "dull"
orange look...having the last laugh after all...
Still interested in your view
regards,
M.H.
2. February 15, 2005 3:39 PM
Never have so many words been used to say so little.
R.B.
3. February 15, 2005 3:57 PM
I did not expect to enjoy this exhibit. I thought I would say, “It is counter
to all that Olmstead thought this Park should be.” And yet, I find myself
agreeing with my 19-month-old daughter who, upon passing under the first
gate at the Park’s 108th Street and CPW entrance exclaimed one of her few
words: “Wow!” She stared in wonder as they unfurled the orange. She raced
beneath the flags as they flapped in the Saturday morning breeze. She giggled
a lot, which I’m not sure is the “correct” response. And, when Cristo and
his wife appeared at the Great Hill to speak to his fans, she ran up to the
crowd, clapped her hands and offered her greatest form of approval. She danced.
So, maybe I just enjoyed Maya’s joy. Maybe I’m just inclined to agree with
my daughter’s first aesthetic approval. Regardless, this was an experience
I’ll remember my entire life.
A.S.
4. February 15, 2005 3:58 PM
Henry, this may be the funniest and most trenchant thing you've ever written. I love it. C.R.
5. February 15, 2005 4:03 PM
c'est vous qui a commencer le discours en Francais!
pour deux semaines et pas pour un jour plus!
As for the tortuous negotiations: le plus ca change, le plus c'est le meme chose.
Mais comme toujours, votre opinion est exceptionnelle!
E.B.R.
6. February 15, 2005 4:08 PM
My response. It wasn't until the next day that I remembered that the tao , basic
tenet of several oriental religions, means gate.
7. February 15, 2005 4:14 PM
Read your article in today's Sun. Excellent piece.
Here are my thoughts about the Gates:
1) They are Home Depot orange, not saffron.
2) The pleats look quite old-fashioned.
3) The park is beautiful as it is. It does not need embellishment in
the form of frames and drapes that make the paths look like a car wash.
Thanks for asking!
M.D.
8. February 15, 2005 4:20 PM
To control my temper and irritation, I will avoid the park until the orange
things are brought down. It is enough for me to see it through the windows
of the M72 bus. For me, it looks like feng-shui kitsch or a statement
on life before drying machines, but I guess in a society that's into easy
enlightenment and yoga as an athletic endeavor, some adults would find such
art appealing.
While I suspected that Bloomberg was a Christo fan from the social circles
he runs in, this suspicion was confirmed by the recent 60 Minutes show and
your column.
What really grates on me are statements like, "wow, now the park is so beautiful"
or "it was so blah before now." These people are mostly wimps who have
no appreciation of the austere beauty of winter. Stop being such babies,
people, we will have spring and bad Shakespeare productions in muggy weather
again very soon. Maybe they should go out more and start hanging out at a
McDonald's playground if they're in need of bright colors.
To be sure, there are a lot more untalented and boring artists out there
than Christo and Jean Claude, but one can just ignore their shows, whether
they're at the Whitney or Williamsburg. Unfortunately, the crowds that came
into the park also snarled up traffic on Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully
it won't be so bad again this weekend. And then when they're taken down,
that will be the end of it.
Yours truly,
C.C.
9. February 15, 2005 4:21 PM
terrific
I thought it a self-promotional trick by the Christi, but then came to admire
its technical and logistical achievements. Eager to see the results,
I ventured into the Park after virtually all of the 'safron' fabric had unfurled.
If that is safron, I am blonde.
I was underwhelmed. The color is only exciting if you are approaching
the gates and they are sunlit from behind. Otherwise, the color is
Home Depot orange and the texture of the fabric too flat.
The Reichstag -- it should have been left a hulking shell or blown up --
and its memory did not need to be trivialized by their wrapping, nor
the Pont Neuf. Ultimately, the project is a glib tourist attraction
for the over-evolved or uncritical. The rent for our national treasure
too paltry, if the price is to have it ever associated with these enfantes
jejeune and their repetative objects...
J.G.
10. February 15, 2005 4:29 PM
I think perhaps you are a bit jealous this brilliant art did not happen during your time.
it is OK but it the bitterness is clear in your email. these are no shower curtians. it is truly brilliant.
all the best,
n.p.
11. February 15, 2005 4:31 PM
I enjoyed this piece, Antoinette and I ( Fabio's mom ) visited the park Saturday
and again on Sunday. I have to admit the site of well dressed New Yorkers
walking in masses for a stroll on a magnificent sunny winter day was a wonderful
gift to the City. The fact that this event was planned for February when
no one would be caught dead walking through the park made this event a special
event.
I plan on giving Pat Harris a call and Congratulating her.
M.B.
12. February 15, 2005 4:35 PM
I agree with your feelings, but for reasons that are I think different.
The reason this is all a bunch of crap is that it is not art. It is
not art because it has no content whatsoever, and therefore cannot perforce
convey any emotion. As decoration it is also a zero, since it does
not decorate. In common with some recent "movements" in the art world,
such as Minimalism, there is no art in it. Therefore it is without
value of any kind. It just shows you why the existence of overly wealthy
peopple is to be regretted: with nothing better to do, they oppress us all
with their attempts to get their ugly pictures in the papers.
Like the pitiful New York Times "Arts" Seciton, it seems to think that generating
money (for whom?) has something to do with art. How could you get any
worse?????
L.N.
13. February 15, 2005 4:41 PM
BRILLIANT article! I also think that the reason the gates can be considered
at all groundbreaking is found in their sheer scale. The ambition (bravado?)
of the project and its effort to “counteract” everything else that is natural
in the crown jewel this time of year… makes it, if not beautiful, then perhaps
spectacular.
Best,
GZ/SQ1
14. February 15, 2005 4:47 PM
Mais cette l’orangerie est tres belle!
Perserve our park. Fight off inappropriate intrusions. But this
is truly a spectacular show. Whether you call it art or anything else,
I have found it startling and soothing at the same time. Despite injuries
to both of my legs, I could not resist the temptation to keep walking once
I ventured inside the Park. I will love it for two weeks of mid-winter. I
will still love our Park when the show has departed, but I will always remember
the scene. I cajoled my cynical 14 year old to take photos so he can
show his children and grandchildren.
Without any comment on his politics, I certainly believe that our mayor has
good judgment when it comes to public art. As your article points out,
the terms of this exhibition will insure that there is no permanent damage
to the park. Our Park and all but the most despairing citizens of New
York have benefited from Christo’s show.
P.S. I also enjoy the spreaders and additional halyards on park flagpoles,
even if they interfere with viewing the “natural” beauty of our artificially
landscaped parks.
DK
15. February 15, 2005 4:48 PM
Since last Saturday I have been at a loss for the right words to describe
what I was witnessing, but " over seven thousand schmatas hanging from
orange crossbars" is exactly right. Again, as a park purest I probably fall
into the booboise class anyway.
S.S.
16. February 15, 2005 4:48 PM
this is a wonderful article... very funny at times... I actually have been
converted. My husband has not. But I have been walking through them every
day, and see them from my apt. ... I thought it was a totally silly waste...
but the park is filled with people talking about it, from all over the world.
Today on my regular route, which I take two miles from 90th to 59 th on the
way to work, we noticed so many more people, school classes, foreign tourists,
other tourists, and there was a real happiness. I think that all of us have
sub clinical case of SAD and seeing all that orange is like suddenly seeing
the sun in bleak winter... or from a distance like some ancient regatta...
anyway... I love it, not for any obvious reason, but perhaps that it has
created more community. Hopefully some of those people will use the park
more when the gates are gone... m... pearl eagle.
17. February 15, 2005 4:50 PM
BRAVO HENRY!!!!!
I couldn't agree with you more!
And I LOVE the way you trashed this absurd, ridiculously unnecessary guilding of the Central Park lily.
I expect next he'll find a need to "wrap" the Mona Lisa!
~ L.Y.
18. February 15, 2005 4:51 PM
I love your column. It's deft, quite informative, and makes some really
good points. I'm a board member on a couple of nonprofits and found your
comments especially useful in that light. Thanks for sending it.
R.
19. February 15, 2005 4:59 PM
Just came from there -- what a disappointment. Amazing, we seem to have a
mass public influence (like the mass hysteria sometimes seen among
schoolchildren who suddenly all develop a strange symptom). The nyt, among
others, says this is beautiful and everyone (almost everyone) follows in
place. So much for independent judgements and independent thought
Best,
S.S.
20. February 15, 2005 5:04 PM
Thank you thank you, for your informed, wise and wonderful essay on our temporary
Central Park Orange. The only thing I would add is that it is technology,
definitely, and "art" questionably, as you note. I noted how Christo's private
talks on the subject mention only the quantities and qualities of the materials
used--he appeared obsessed by the very quantitative magnitude of what he
has accomplished--no aesthetic comments at all. With thanks for your words
and perspective. Desmosome.
21. February 15, 2005 5:04 PM
ART / Schmart; I had tremendous fun walking though it this morning (for the
first time). Henry- I admire your ability to stay with such a simple concept
and intellectually & philosophically schmooze it. Your insights made
for a fun afternoon at work. I guess I'm from the qualitative/partial judgment
school of thought. If it were to become a permanent fix I would think it
vile.
P.
22. February 15, 2005 5:08 PM
Sounds like you and Gordon Davis are making apologies for not having the
vision and courage to structure a deal that would have allowed this to proceed
earlier. Now looking at its wonderful success, perhaps a little remorse?
A.
23. February 15, 2005 5:12 PM
I enjoyed your 2/15/05 article about the Cristo exhibit in Central
Park. I've seen it. As a graduate of the High School of Music
and Art(a music major to be sure); a graduate of our mutual alma
mater, City College, and; an art collector, my opinion-eh!
S.G.
24. February 15, 2005 5:15 PM
You have written another thoughtful and witty piece. Many years ago I went
to see their work on the California coastline- the fence or some such name.
I was very cynical at first but ended up very beguilded, especially when
the fence went into the Pacific ocean at some point. I had been veryinvolved
in coastal conservation legislation and this nutty project helped coastal
protection considerably. I certainly couldn't add to your funny and infomred
article but you my have heard of an event in Paris at the turn of the century.
A french aristocrat married to the heiress of the Singer sewing machine fortune
was intent on spending her moolaa as quicly as possible. He decided to promote
a huge party in the Bois de Bologne, a major Parisian park. (Like Central
Park but with a few more prostitutes). When the French authorities asked
him if this affair was going to raise money for the government or charity
he replied very quickly "Non, ce'est seulement pour plaisir". I thought you
might like that one. R.M.
25. February 15, 2005 5:37 PM
as usual, well written. but the color/colour is saffron, not orange.
i went to see the river of saffron on sunday. i approached it skeptically. but i liked it in the end.
i am especially pleased that the saffron is stirring up a variety of conversations about art in this great city.
i grew up here. it is home. that people are visiting from all over the world,
especially europe, brings me delight. that art (even this kind) is good
for the economy pleases me.
and i am no politician.
i am sending this to a cluster of folk who, even if they don't agree with you, will appreciate your acumen with words.
best.
J.H.
26. February 15, 2005 5:39 PM
Your commentary on the "Gates" park exhibit was the best I have read and
I thank you for sharing your thoughts. I especially found amusing your description
of the nylon curtains, "seven thousand schmatas" right on the mark and if
they in fact they do end up as shower curtains, that will also contribute
to the economic well being of those involved.
It is important that those who relish the natural landscape of the park maintain
a constant vigilance, but perhaps in the total scheme of things, a little
divergence like the Gates is not the worst that might befall the city's jewell.
After all is said and done, is it any worse than the concerts and entertainment
that often despoil the park and leave one wondering, is "more better than
nature?".
M.S.
27. February 15, 2005 5:43 PM
Very well put. As I walked the Park on Sunday, the mood of the orange textures
draped in their linear stanchions had a feel to it that was reminiscent of
another great park. I could not escape the thought of the 1964-65 New York
World's Fair in Flushing Meadow. The orange, being an official city color,
was woven into many official designs at the Fair. The angular stanchions
likewise had a '60s retro feel to them.
Cormorant
28. February 15, 2005 5:46 PM
"Art" for whose sake? Such a ridiculous premise
for an art exhibition. Why don't they wrap each other and have the "art"
sent to Egypt for burial in a tomb of some Pharaoh?
E.D.
29. February 15, 2005 6:00 PM
Christo is the P.T. Barnum of the art world, the creator of grandiose spectacles
having little to do with the beauty which I consider great art. “The
Gates” is no exception. The jailhouse jumpsuit orange curtains (saffron,
my eye!) calls to mind the aesthetics of a gigantic Halloween haunted house.
When I saw it, I wondered why not turquoise or yellow? Almost any other
color would have been better. So I remain in the camp of nay-sayers,
while conceding (as you aptly point out) that things could have been worse,
much worse.
Yet in the spirit of P.T. Barnum, there is an attraction to the grandiose,
kitchy background which “The Gates” provides. Entrepreneurial New Yorkers
already have set up their impromptu souvenir stands, musical ensembles, juggling
acts, face painting operations, and array of street theater on this novel
stage set. It lacks the dignity of the Delacourt, but it has enlivened
the park in this respect. It has attracted the crowds, those hoping
to profit off those crowds, and the controversy required for a public spectacle.
In this, it resembles the Triple Tree of Tyburn without the thrill of the
executioners’ public artistry, the blood-lust of the crowd, and the aftermath
of dangling bodies. It is the City of New York itself, through those
of its people who have taken an interest in the spectacle, or who seek to
profit by it, which is on display here. This artistic Emperor may have
no clothes (as you slyly suggest), but one always may count on a crowd of
gawkers to appear, especially for acts of public indecency by famous artists.
Having myself viewed the spectacle, I confess to having been among them,
albeit briefly. As always, I found the people of New York themselves
to be a lovely and fascinating spectacle as they puzzled their way through
their orange park, themselves the centerpiece and the great triumph of this
event. In that sense only, Christo’s spectacle is great and successful.
Barnum (“There’s a sucker born every minute”) would have been proud.
And his reputed last words (“What was the take at the gate tonight?”) also
seem apropos.
Best wishes,
-H.L.
30. February 15, 2005 6:17 PM
I have walked through Central Park a total of 6 times since the "exhibit"
opened (or the gates were unfurled), twice today. Amused by the
spectacle but unable to find much beauty in it I found myself occasionally
retreating into the Ramble for respite from it all (especially the crowds).
In fact, I had been feeling a bit booboisie'ish until I read Henry Stern's
fine article. At least I'm not alone. Thank you!
P.E.
31. February 15, 2005 7:34 PM
A very interesting review of the Gates, (with which I do not agree completely
since they remind me more of the Torii you see in Japan), but I feel compelled
to point out that the French word for week is SEMAINE, SEMAINES in the plural.
Not a terrible mistake, but in case you need help in the future, call on
me, free of charge, E.B.
32. February 15, 2005 8:55 PM
I totally agree. J.L.
33. February 15, 2005 9:24 PM
I read your piece twice...here on line, and, in the Sun. Even wrote a letter
to the editor to the Sun lauding your comments, and adding a few choice words
of my own. Tis a pity the parks are not under your care still. Good work.
A.A.S.
Manhattan
34. February 15, 2005 9:36 PM
Bravo..this is a wonderful product...comments, history, definitions, politics,
doing business with NY, questions about the money...all of it...a bravura
performance...I enjoyed every word...
M.H.
35. February 15, 2005 9:55 PM
Wow. I am deeply honored to receive this e-mail and
the thoughts and sentiments which are included. I feel I am an enlightened
New Yorker because of what you transmitted. Yes, somehow I've got to
go off my normal travel paths to see it, in order to make my own judgement.
But the real blessing was to be able to read your viewpoint, the viewpoint
of the Emerald Empire leader, not diminished by a short tenure, but encapsulated
by a long-time expertise and experience. Thank you very much for this
"insiders" viewpoint.
R.B.
36. February 15, 2005 10:04 PM
I'm leaving town for 10 days beginning 2/17, so I doubt I'll get to see "The
Gates". Find myself ready to accept your perspective, tho I suspect
my on-site reaction would be negative, even if amused. I respond positively
to expressions of respect, at the least, for "natural" beauty, which parts
of Central Park offer. Grew up in Bed-Stuy, often found restoration
in Prospect Park... there was a spot on Lookout Mountain reminiscent of Cezanne's
"Dans le parc du Chateau-Noir." In those days - 1936 or so - a schoolboy
didn't pay a cent for admission to MOMA.
I.L.
37. February 15, 2005 10:22 PM
That was a joy to read.
-B.
38. February 15, 2005 10:27 PM
Needing some air, Sunday, My wife Kelly and I decided to take a walk through
Central Park. Approaching from West 60th Street, I looked up, saw all that
orange in the distance, and thought that a wrong turn had taken us to Home
Depot. Upon closer inspection, I thought that perhaps the Hare Krishna had
just done their laundry and were airing it out to dry. Reality hit when a
hawker tried to sell me a $12 guide book and I thus learned that it was just
"1" man's idea of art. Although, I enjoyed the mood of this event and the
utter absurdity of it, I guess that you could say that it is to true art,
what rap is to true music. We went to the Met on the previous Sunday.
There was Reuben's work and details of the many days and hours that he painstakingly
practiced to achieve it. Great musicians, likewise dedicate their lives to
perfecting their craft. I guess that the effect of something really creative
should be calculated by the square or exponent of the effort endeavored to
create it. Having said all this, it did bring out a lot of people on a winter's
day. I guess that maybe you could call it New York style "California Dreaming".
Thanks for your incite and honesty and my Park Name,
B.S. "NEWSREEL"
39. February 15, 2005 10:44 PM
I have appreciated all your articles and opinions in the past, but your Christo
article protrays you as nothing more than a self centered, antagonistic,
washed up jerk. You are a sore looser. The Gates is magnificent.
Farewell as you fade into the past.
40. February 15, 2005 10:45 PM
Thank Henry. I enjoyed that essay. And ony you can really "enjoy"
the spectacle with the historical perspective you do.
flyguy
41. February 15, 2005 10:46 PM
During my dozen or so years living on the virtual fringe of the Park, the
place was my bicycle track and my therapist. I plotted and shaped my
current job there, debated my married or single states, expurged memories
of a bad indie film I produced there, while I built endurance and the strong
lungs to go on another day chasing my own dreams. Even amidst car traffic,
a place of peace. Today was the first day I really couldn't wait to
ride out of the park rather than ponder another lap.
I commend the guy with the name like Jesus' (and his JC sidekick) persistence
over the years. After all, sticking with an idea and turning it into
reality, amidst great opposition--isn't that the real dream which rises up
from the sidewalks of NYC daily? But, now I think it is over.
NYC is for officially sale, as the 2012 Olympic Selection Committee will
see.
A fitting time, I guess, to turn over the park literally.
Saffron dreams or highway orange reality, even in NYC dreams may be better
than reality in action. Though Mr Trump and a broad way of others may
disagree.
How about C and JC just take their next twenty-one million and give the green
we all in NYC seem to understand so well away, Ben Franklin by Ben Franklin
to those who walk through the puddle by the pond on a rainy day in Central
Park.
Now that would be letting real lightning out of the hair and shower curtain dye bottle.
J.H.
42. February 15, 2005 10:46 PM
one thing you must admit....the gates are boosting the parks attendence,
and have people using the park in a manner that has been lost since the construction
of the park....imagine, christo & jean claude, have convinced thousands
of new yorkers to take a stroll thru central park.
43. February 15, 2005 10:57 PM
Your column was the best thing I've read about this monstrosity--balanced
(which I'm finding it difficult to be) and intelligent. I can see the
installation from my windows overlooking the park and it looks as if somone
has hung their laundry out to dry. It is simply an abomination.
It may be one thing to "wrap" a building, no more loony than much of what
passes for art these days, but the idea of hiding the trees of Central Park
behind a set of shower curtains defies reason. At the risk of repeating
myself--as well as you--I'll pass on writing an essay on what's wrong with
the idea, despite the rapturous crowds (what was it Barnum said? or was it
Lincoln?), and simply reprint the two messages I got off this morning to
friends, one in Paris, the other in Florida, who asked me about it.
They will come, as we used to say, under separate cover. (I know how
to forward but not how to attach messages. I go back to an Underwood
and carbon paper. Maybe that's why I don't get it when it comes to
such modern masterpieces as the gates.)
With best regards,
R.K.
44. February 15, 2005 11:19 PM
The GATES need to be saved
The "Artists" plan to remove and leave no trace of the Gates.
The Gates are now a part of the Park.
We need to "SAVE" some of these "GATES" from destruction.
It would be tragic to destroy all of the GATES
Please help save some of the Gates for all of time.
VJ
45. February 15, 2005 11:19 PM
A most interresting respone to the Christo and Jeanne-Claude project written
by former long-time NYC Commisioner of Parks, Henry Stern. (My favorite
line: "The remarkable aspect of Christo's work is not its striking
beauty, although it is probably as attractive and tasteful as orange vinyl
bars with hanging shower curtains can ever be. With daubs of white at their
centers, the curtains could well be creamsicles.") I shall follow it
with some rantings of my own...
I need to admit from the outset that I was prejudiced against Christo's project
for Central Park. I am an Olmsted fanatic, and I consider Central Park
to be my favorite architectural work in New York City. The idea of
putting anything in it not part of the original conception is something I
resist: first, because I want to respect the perfection of the design
and conception of this astounding work of art; and, second, for fear that
permitting any encroachment is a very slippery slope that potentially endangers
one of what I consider to be one of the great wonders of the world.
Putting this prejudice aside—to the extent I am able, I have attempted to
evaluate the success of the project itself. What follows is my assessment
from that perspective.
First, what I consider to its main success: The Gates has drawn people
to the park--and in droves. One of Olmsted's goals in planning the
park was to have it be a place where people of all sorts would come together
and have an experience different from the general rhythms of city existence.
And for anyone who has wandered in Central Park, his success in this goal
has always been obvious: one always finds the park filled with people
from every ethnic, racial, and socio-economic group enjoying various aspects
of what the park provides. In a way that is more successful than any
other park I know, Central Park has always functioned as a magnet for the
City's residents; it is a destination that people travel to--and NYC has
the public transportation which enables them to do so. It was completely
clear this weekend that The Gates was functioning as an event that was accomplishing
a similar goal: huge numbers people were drawn to the park--many of
whom were clearly not the sort one usually finds there. (On a typical
day, the park is full of tourists--many of them from other countries.
Many of these new visitors are clearly from out of town, but more who drove
rather than flew to get here.)
A second plus is that The Gates has people looking and talking and trying to understand their experience.
Having said all this, it is my strong opinion that the project is terrible in any number of important ways.
To begin with, the individual elements of the project are horrid. Each
“gate” is a badly proportioned rectangular structure with a large piece of
rip-stop cloth hanging from the crossbar at the top. The entire structure
is clunky, the bases are awkward, and the orange color is garish—and all
too reminiscent of construction site orange. In the midst of the organic
forms of Central Park, each gate stands as an awkwardly proportioned, totally
artificial, geometric eyesore.
Moreover, each gate straddles some stretch of park pathway, effectively narrowing
the room for those walking on the paths. This constriction, combined
with the inflated number of visitors, makes walking in the areas of the project
difficult and jostling. One of the purposes of the park was to provide
an expansive, open, bucolic experience that would be a natural counterpoint
to the urban intensity and constrictions of city life. Instead, moving
through the gates actually give a sense of containment and artificiality.
Even given the ugliness and garish artificiality of the individual gates,
my hope was that their repetition along some of the pathways of the park
potentially might highlight some of the magnificent contours of Olmsted’s
design. Alas, the project fails on this measure as well. Instead
of visually composing in a manner that would accentuate the underlying structure
of Olmsted’s creation, the gates are arranged in a way that just confuses
the experience of it. In the first place, the lines of gates were laid
out without any real regard to the fact that from ground level one ends up
seeing a meaningless mishmash of different individual elements from various
contour lines all at the same time. One sees different layers
superimposed upon each other, instead of seeing clearly defined groupings.
(There are small areas of exception to this: places where only one
line of gates is coherently visible at a time—but this is very much the exception
rather than the rule. And even more rare are those small segments that
actually reveal the beauty of the Olmsted contour they follow)
One of the most distinctive features of the genius of Olmsted’s design was
the creations of discrete mini-environments within the park. An open
lawn can be immediately adjacent to tree-lined promenade, and that to a narrow
glen, and that to a hilly ramble—and each distinctive environment remains
totally separate from and invisible to its neighboring environments, except
where, in a measured and controlled way, Olmsted decided to provide a sight
line from one into another. One of the jarring problems of The Gates
is that the height of the gates themselves and the poor choices that went
into their placement result in one being made aware of multiple adjacent—and
even distant—environments that one was specifically meant not to be aware
of.
My last hope for some redeeming artistic merit to the project was that it
might compose well seen from above. I am afraid that I must report
that, after having viewed it from high up in a building on Fifth Avenue and
even higher up (25th floor) of a building on Central Park West, it fails
on this measure as well. What little coherent structure there is to
the design is a more apparent viewed from above—but the sad truth is that
it simply is not that good and not that coherent. The plan is just
not that well thought out. The lines that have been created are too
numerous, too random, and, in many cases, not created or continued assertively
enough. There are lines that simply don’t belong being there; and there
are others that should be there that are not.
There are any number of artists who would have been able to create more beautiful
or appropriate objects with which to populate such a project. And,
even assuming the project’s goal was to utilize particularly ugly elements,
repeatedly laid out in a way meant jarringly to create a design, there are
some masters who would have been able to have the sense of underlying structure
of Olmsted’s masterpiece and have had the ability to understand and control
the use of line and point of view enough to make art of this project.
Christo and his wife Jeanne-Cluade simply are not artists enough to pull
this off. They have created a happening, to be sure; but they have
not created art.
We are promised, at least, that this installation is only for sixteen days—and
in this, at least, there might be some solace. But I do not believe
it! In the first place, it is pure hogwash that the installation went
up in five days. The ugly and intrusive bases have been being positioned
for weeks. What is more, and army of volunteers was involve in setting
up The Gates. I completely do not believe that they will be taken down
with the same vigor or enthusiasm. And God knows how long it will be
until Central Park has been freed from the bases for each gate. I am
predicting we will be bothered by elements of this intrusion on our park
for many, many months to come.
And let us not forget: it is our park. I do not remember us being asked for our consent to this project.
D.P.
46. February 15, 2005 11:41 PM
Forwarding didn't work (too much irrelevant stuff in the message to my friend),
but this is what I told her in answer to her question about the installation,
which she'd read about:
"I think the Gates are an abomination, allowed by Bloomberg because he's
a social climber and rich pretentious patrons think this sort of thing is
art so it gets him brownie points. It totally distorts what Olmsted
and Vaux created--a natural oasis of greenery in the midst of the urban crush--and
if it makes a statement, it's a statement about how far you can go on a little
talent, a lot of perseverance (chutzpa?) and the right connections.
What it actually looks like is a bunch of shmatas hung out to dry.
Of course the papers have been full of it and how the trouists love it.
Money for the city, etc. Bah, humbug. Call me philistine, but
while I may not know much about nature, I know what I like."
I would like to add a paragraph from Central Park, A History and a Guide
by Henry Hope Reed, curator of Central Park, published in 1967:
"If one were to select one quotation from the writings of the great landscape
architect Frederick Law Olmsted, that would most perfeclty sum up his philosophy
and serve as a guide for what a park should be, none would surpass that which
appears in the biography of the architect written by his son: 'A park
is a single work of art, and as such subject to the primary law of every
work of art, namely, that it shall be framed upon a single, noble motive,
to which the design of all its parts, in some more or less subtle way, shall
be confluent and helpful.' "
Of course the monstrous hangings are as far from confluent and helpful as
it is possible to be, interfering with, actually hiding, the beauty that
is the park itself. For that alone they are a disgrace. Even
if the hangings consisted of panels by Mattisse they would be out of place,
an interference with the design and destructive of the effect of everything
that makes Central Park what it is and what I can hardly wait to see it restored
to.
I close with my best regards and I salute you for your continued efforts on the part of our park and our city.
R.
47. February 15, 2005 11:44 PM
Appreciate email regarding gates. I found 2 places where one gets a beautiful
perspective of the gates. You may want to check 72nd Street entrance at 5th Ave.
Walk past Bethesda Fountain and then approximately another 200/300 feet west.
At that point you view a very large number of gates arching in a slight circle.
Another terrific site is a few feet east of Tavern on the Green. Both
areas give you a wide perspective and both areas are very memorable.
Please keep up your good work. Also, 2/28/05 Hamilton Exhibit closes at NYHS.
There will be a great program presented that day. I'm enclosing an email of same.
Had the honor of greeting you at the Society several weeks ago. It is without
that HM was an incredible mensch. Be well! A.B.
48. February 16, 2005 12:02 AM
I sense a slight sarcasm in your article on the "gates and robes" in Central
Park, and I find that unfitting for a man of your brilliance in interpretation
and dissection of BS.
Who cares whether the gates are art or not? Who cares if the city doesn't
make money on the event? If the restaurants and stores in the vicinity of
the Park don't have banner weeks?
The truth is hat everyone is enjoying the hoopla in advance and thousands
of people have walked quietly through the parks under the billowing canopies
of saffron billowing like the river above their heads without feeling, as
most of us do every day in this town like we're really drowning in the trivia,
decadence And "honest" hype from our "where do you want to go. Tell me and
I'll take you there," leaders.
Where are the people with the vision to engage us in big projects that will
benefit us and our successors for centuries? We can't even get the lousy
2nd Avenue Subway finished in less time than it took to build the entire
existing subway system.
Where are the people who look around and see the open spaces of Queens and
can't think of a damned thing to do with them except use them as garbage
transfer stations?
And how about completing the third water tunnel instead of crying "drought"
every Summer no matter how heavy the rainfall or how full the reservoirs.
And when someone proposes building a rail tunnel from New Jersey to Brooklyn,
our "leaders" squabble over whether it should cost 60 billion or 59 billion
990 million, regardless of what it would do for the city's welfare.
Finally, where is someone unlike Ruth Messinger who once told me that we
should consider our welfare costs as a jobs program. The unemployment rate
in Harlem is about 50% and he best we can do to resolve that is to convert
usable industrial centers into luxury apartment tearing down perfectly viable
buildings which have been deserted by greedy manufacturers who wanted to
go to non-union regions -- and did. Building a stadium for the enjoyment
of rednecks from New Jersey and firemen from Long Island will offer plenty
of jobs selling beer, cleaning the floors after the game, and others that
don't pay even the minimum wage because they are all part-time, and offer
no health insurance depending on the rest of society to handle that.
And by the way -- how do you feel about the stadium project, or even the
LIRR East Side Terminal boondoggle that will put 2,000 more taxis on my streets
every rush hour when the police can't even enforce the no turns laws that
presently exist?
I'm fed up and a little bit of fun that I can enjoy more than the tourists is welcome.
You do write a good French though.
Best/
P.L.
49. February 16, 2005 12:39 AM
I don't know whether it's "art" and I really don't care. "The Gates" is a
grand and joyous happening in which people can share if they so choose —
and judging from the public response so far, a lot of folks so choose. Yes,
there are those who claim "The Gates" inflicts commercialism and industrialization
upon Central Park, that it "desecrates" the natural beauty of the park with
man-made objects. Have they forgotten that Central Park itself was man-made?
I wonder how they feel about the steel bars that separate them from the animals
in the Central Park Zoo. I wonder what they think about Shakespeare in the
Park and the carrousel and the skating rink and the concerts and the road
races and all the other "man-made" attractions that define Central Park.
Lighten up, everyone. If you don't like "The Gates," that's your right. But
stop acting as though Christo has defiled a sanctuary. What he's done is
give New York a gift.
Right place, right time, right gift.
M.S.
50. February 16, 2005 12:58 AM
When I heard about what was planned, I thought it sounded ridiculous. I
had never cared for--still don't--- previous Christos works.
Now, I think differently.
I am grateful to all the public servants and friends of the Park who took
appropriate steps to constrain The Gates project to fit within the
limitations that now apply.
I pass on the question of whether this is art, which Henry has covered
thoroughly.
I am astonished at the memory of so many, so many of them New Yorkers, out
in the Park in February, last Sunday, and at how gorgeous it ALL looked, the
people, the Park, and, OK, the schmatas. As I read what I've just written,
I find it quite inadequate to express how magnificent the memory is.
I am sorry for anyone who misses seeing it at least once---and for anyone
who cannot experience pleasure at the sight of it.
N.J.H.
51. February 16, 2005 1:58 AM
Once I saw the Orange fabric floating down the paths of Central Park, I eagerly
entered today to see for myself if it is beauty, charm or frivolous.
I entered 72nd Street on the West Side and proceeded to walk across
passing Bethesda fountain. It was an enthralling walk. I loved
the gates. I loved the spring sunny weather and the throngs of people
walking, photographing, chatting. I met one couple dressed in orange,
practically the same shade of orange as the gates. It was their favorite
color. The woman wore an orange shawl and the man , an orange turtleneck.
I thought next time I'll remember to put on my orange sweater forgotten in
my closet for years. The gates gave another dimension to Central Park.
In fact it changed the park for me. I no longer knew my pathways.
They became majestic and powerful and domineering. I loved them just
the same and followed them to Fifth Avenue. I regretted leaving the
Park at this juncture. I wanted to remain in the delight of the optimistic,
happy orange gates. Bravo Christo for being daring and succeeding to
transform our eyes and make people forget fear.
J.O.
52. February 16, 2005 6:59 AM
Your reference to the little boy's comment on the emperor's clothes is exactly
what I intended for my column. Likely said this before but so often
when waiting for the Fifth Ave. bus at 79th, I revel in the view of this
wonderful park and sky above it, instead of peering impatiently northward
for the sight of the bus as most do. But it took me some years before I looked
the right way. You know. Moonlight
53. February 16, 2005 9:15 AM
Good article, but I come down squarely
on the side of no intrusion on natural beauty, albeit central or astoria
park, or along the rockaway beach shoreline, where such "gates" would be
equally offensive and destructive to natural beauty and tranquillity.
And if I were rich enough to afford
such an expenditure, it gives me no right to impose large sheets in the wind
or any other objects that I might admire to come between what I could buy
and what God created.
Since I think you agree,
why not just use your pulpit to say so? The freedom we now enjoy as former
public servants should unshackle the bonds of any mayor who might disagree,
i.e respectfully.
My public lecture has now been
put off until Tues., 4/12. See you then, if not before.
P.V.
54. February 16, 2005 9:43 AM
Thanks for your expanded article via email. I thoroughly enjoyed your original letter published in the Sun yesterday.
I feel compelled to write to you today to give you some news from the front,
so to speak, of an avid park-goer. Central Park is my backyard where
I run 2-3 times a week on the park roadways as well as the bridle path and
the resevoir track. I also bike in Central Park and am especially fond
of the upper loop for my hill workouts. There are very few days that go by
that I am not in some part of the park.
I was originally elated when I heard the park would be outfitted with the
gates for this two week period in February. The park can be grey and
rather monochromatic in winter, much like the rest of NYC, and I thought
these bright so called saffron sheets billowing in the wind would be a bright
note against a drab winter landscape.
While the installation is on view for only two weeks, I've seen Central
Park overrun since the beginning of the year in preparation for this exhibit.
The landscape of CP was altered immediately in January when the bases sprung
up seemingly overnight, complete with the orange plastic protective sides(obviously
needed so as to fend off lawsuits from tripping over the 600 pound pieces
of steel). Add to this the fact that the 102nd Street transverse as
well as the skateboard area by the mall and the volleyball field was overtaken
during the entire month of January with stockpiling the vinyl orange beams.
All the NYRR races since the beginning of the year have had to have their
courses altered to accommodate these storage areas, and in some cases, when
the 102nd St. transverse had to be used for a race turnoff, the storage area
significantly cut into an already tight roadway area for all the runners
to negotiate.
Maybe this one point is purely a judgement call on my end, but I continually
recoil at the sight of Christo and his wife tooling around Central Park in
a $350,000 Maybach checking and tending to their work of art. It's
a bad choice of vehicle for artists who keep billing themselves as entirely
self financed and scraping by for every nickel(or $600,000 for the paintings)they
can get.
The last day of the gates installation is Feb. 26th. Obviously, what
needed 5-6 weeks to put together for what we now see is not going to magically
disappear by Sunday, Feb. 27th. I know demolition is a shorter path
than construction, but I'm sure because of the recycling factor we've all
heard about and the marketing of pieces of this profound art work it will
be at least another 2-3 weeks before all traces of this are removed. So the
upshot is we've had an intrusion perpetrated upon our park for two
months this winter.
I can quite truthfully say that since I've seen the shower curtains blowing
in the wind these past few days, I am not impressed. Horrified is more the
word. While I have found one sublime gate framing a path off the bridle
path leading up to the resevoir on the west side, it appears that the sheer
mass of so many gates in tight clusters is almost enough to provoke a seizure,
much like some children experience in viewing Japanese animation cartoons(an
effect especially prevalent when viewing the ball fields below the Sheep
Meadow looking down towards 57th Street).
My apologies to you for such a lengthy note, but I love my Central Park.
When I lived in idyllic Malibu for two years in 2000 and 2001, I longed for
those fabulous runs around the resevoir. I ran the resevoir and the
lower bridle path around it yesterday, and thankfully the gates have not
intruded there because of the low branches and small trees. I'm looking
forward to the first day of spring, because hopefully, by that time, all
traces of this artistic sham will be erased from our beloved backyard.
THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO MR. STERN, YOUR VIEWS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!
T.P.
55. February 16, 2005 10:16 AM
You sound like an old fogey! First your definitions of ART are 19th Century.
Get down to Chelsea (NY) and see the Richard Serra if you want to hang something
on your walls. Christo is FUN. Everybody I saw in the park was smiling or
even grinning as if at the most wonderful free cocktail party with all the
people they'd ever wanted to meet. It' temporariness is part of the charm-
life should not be an eternal cocktail party. Hey --lighten up!
Regards B.B.
56. February 16, 2005 10:46 AM
I'm surprised you bothered to write 2510 words without actually taking a position.
I think the gates are great and I'm glad they happened.
D.W.
57. February 16, 2005 10:46 AM
Michael Kimmelman was right. The Gates are an ode to joy, making walkers
happy, putting smiles on faces in dreary February, a brief apparition, two
weeks, all the more a source of delight--like cherry blossoms and daffodils.
They are a matter of private enjoyment by those who enjoy. Those who don't
should shut up for two weeks and stay away from the park, leaving it to those
who do enjoy.
Best regards nonetheless, K.G.
58. February 16, 2005 11:23 AM
Oh Henry, for goodness sakes, just admit that you were wrong! js
59. February 16, 2005 11:33 AM
I read the Christo column at my desk. I figured I would save a few pieces of paper and extend the life of a tree.
Best regards,
Exacta
60. February 16, 2005 11:58 AM
I read every word of your article and agreed
with every word. You covered all aspects, eloquently.
I did see the "Gates" last weekend. It was
nice to take a brisk walk, see the vibrant colors in the middle of gloomy
February, observe, with interest, the influx of people who found something
new to discuss, etc. BUT...thank goodness it is not permanent. Enough
is enough.
Regards,
Lady Rotary
61. February 16, 2005 12:35 PM
It may also be one of the best written pieces you have done. Congratulations also to your proofreader.
Rona and I waited with anticipation on Saturday morning as the drapes were
to be released. We were disappointed that they did not all fall open at once,
but took many hours. We see them from our windows on Central Park West. They
are colorful and importantly, inform me as to the wind conditions before
I don my coat. With good wishes, J.F.
62. Wednesday, February 16, 2005 1:06 PM
I thought the article was excellent, and summarized ably the issues over
the years. My impressions of the installation was that, as a brief entity, it was
interesting to see the park contours in a different perspective,
especially where there were converging patterns. In addition, what I
liked was the apparent pleasure of so many of the people who were in the
park on Sunday, strolling through the gates in the winter sunshine and
taking pictures. It was reminiscent of the Renaissance fair in Sterling
Forest, though here the fun was (presumably) free.
However, despite my friends who refer to the color as "saffron" and not
orange, and the letter in yesterday's Times comparing the Gates to a
shrine in Kyoto, it does not meet my definition of art.
Best,
L.R. (Cukier)
63. February 16, 2005 1:32 PM
From 1976-1981, I was Asst. Director of Forestry & Horticulture working out
of the Arsenal.
Proud of the part that I had in getting this display knocked down. I was
given the assignment of determining the impact it would have on the trees,
lawns, and gardens. The severe damage that these gate would have on the
trees was brought out. Excavating the holes
with back-hoes would have caused irreparable damage to every tree within 30
feet of the pathway. You brought out the number of gates was originally
1500, meaning 3000 excavations. Commissioner Davis realized the initial as
well as the long term damage this would have caused. We applauded his
decision not to allow the display, and well as Mayor Koch backing him.
This rated high with another decision he made with authorizing the NYC
Street tree Consortium to train citizens to take care of the young street
trees throughout the City. I am happy to say, I also had input on that
proposal. I had the assignment of letting him know the Pro's & Con's; of
which there were many.
Enjoy your articles.
Guardsman
64. February 16, 2005 1:54 PM
Great piece. I read it to my father who is currently in the rehabilitation
floor of the Jewish Home and Hospital--he's been hospitalized there and at
NY Hospital over the past month due to his getting pneumonia and complications.
He loved the article, even tho' he hasn't seen the exhibit....he particularly
loved the "shmattes" reference. (he should be going home in the next
few days)
Lavender
65. February 16, 2005 2:49 PM
I am an "outsider" who saw this article via Gawker.com.
What an eloquent article. As a regular museum-goer, art collector, and daily
Central Park enthusiast, I feel I am witnessing an "Emperor's New Clothes"
moment and feel glad I am not alone.
I wanted to like the gates--I really did--as it is supposed to be "art,"
and I did not want to be out of the loop. But indeed beauty, and art, can
be said to be in the eye of the beholder. Let me say then that I find the
orange color relentless and intrusive, an unattractive mix of garish and
dull (except when the sun is out and shining through and a breeze blowing--which
doesn't happen often, except in Christo's drawings. Which may be why they
fetch such high prices!). First, there is the failure of the elements of
the gates themselves: the "curtains" would have been bearable, possibly even
lovely, if white and made of more translucent fabric, but the color is too
gaudily intense for a relentlessly repetitive work, and the fabric's texture
is heavy, the pleating ham-fisted. And I find the gates themselves too thick--heavy
and claustrophobic, less a feat of art than solid, but obtrusive, engineering.
If, as Christo and Jean-Claude say, the gates are symbolic of nothing, and
only about beauty, then in my opinion, the project has failed to present
itself as a work of art.
But then I am seeing the installation from the perspective of someone who
walks through the park every day, and views nature as infinitely interesting
and inspiring. I do not see bare trees as boring, or un-beautiful, but infinitely
more elegant than the clumsy-looking gates. But to each her own--the people
who are expressing joy in the gates are expressing the same emotions I feel
every day walking through the park and viewing its natural beauty. I miss
the graceful vistas the inelegant gates destroy. Perhaps some of those who
have seen Central Park rarely, or only when scarred by the gates, might feel
the same way if they come back in two weeks.
The one positive thing about the gates --it is an event, and a spectacle,
and will generally be good for NYC because of the tourism and PR it generates.
Yet while it still may not have been art, it would have been far more fun
if the gates had been installed on, say, Fifth Avenue. But in one of the
few natural settings that New York has...it's not even gilding the lily,
it's crushing it.
By the way, if you want to see how people like I view the park, you can see
some of my photos of Central Park on my personal website at: http://www.victoriaadamsgallery.com
. I think these photos express more how I view the Park than words can.
Cheers!
Best Regards,
V.A.
66. February 16, 2005 2:42 PM
Actually the Gates has turned out better than anticipated---
there are crowds of people with smiles on their faces, walking under the
Gates. I realize this is a toned down version--- I heard Christo years ago
pitching the Gates idea--- and his noting that the process itself was the
art as much as the orange curtains (you are probably a part of all
this---like a flower in the background of a Monet).
What makes it appealing is that it has no purpose other than being
whimsical and fun.
Re: Christos drawings--- as you may have read, he sells them as fast as he
can draw them (and, no doubt, they are worth much more after this
publicity bonanza).
Nice to see the trees, of course--- and there is an element of orange
shower curtains hanging from industrial frames--- but how refreshing to see something done just for the aesthetics---
(and, although all the money comes out of Christo's pocket, I'm sure
Christo could have gotten a nice contribution from Bill--- GATES!)
All the tchotchkes and hats, post-cards, etc go to The Conservancy and
other worthwhile groups--- so this is a win-win idea---
and, one hopes, it doesn't open the door to 5,000 other artists who want
THEIR shower curtains hanging----
best--- J.D.
67. February 16, 2005 2:50 PM
Great article and I laughed, which is important. Your readers will
enjoy it a lot. I sent it to Sandra Povman since I told her about it
and she was anxious to enjoy it too. My only problem with the orange,
plastic shower curtains was the cost. At a time when all those millions
of dollars could be spent on so many important things (like ropes for firemen),
I find this outrageous, but I'm not one of those who enjoy plastic anyway!
M.
68. February 16, 2005 2:59 PM
The groupings of orange cascading geometric bars at least had some elements of design before the flags unfurled.
I will be glad when the park looks like the park again.
Best wishes,
M.M.
69. February 16, 2005 3:59 PM
The Gates:
".following the walkways, and staying away from the grass."
"It is only a work of art. It has no purpose. It provides no symbol. It is
just a work of art." Jean-Claude
Where do we begin? It all depends on where you are coming from or where
you live. It may be in past the smell of horse carriages at 59th Street in
front of the Plaza from the South, or near the Meer in Harlem, or somewhere from
the upper West or East Sides. Whichever threshold you ultimately cross to
participate in, not to say "view", The Gates, invariably you will pass a
police officer, or two, or thirty or forty, on foot, in scooters, vans or
on horseback. This is mentioned because it is part of the context, part of
the milieu, a word we shall deploy further in this commentary prompted by
Christo and Jean-Claude's installation, The Gates.
It has been left to other writers and other publications to lead with the
child-like mirth that miles of billowing fabric apparently bring to the
visitors to Central Park now. Great. Let us then consider first the
framework and decision making processes that are at play, that allowed
this work of art to manifest in the most public of spaces ion New York City but
did not allow a number of us to gather in the very same park under a
different colored banner. Rather, we sought to gather after the large
anti-war and pro-peace march during that time when some of us felt our
very city under attack, to gather, yes, under a multiplicity of banners,
colors, fabrics, lifestyles. No permit. No permission. Here, maybe, it is the
uniformity of the expression that is embraced and welcomed, the only
slight variations in the size of the arches employed by the artists, far
outweighed by the monotony of the triumphal row of democracy, all equal, under the
law.
And, what of the War? Did not the Athenians have their theatrical
festivities while the fleet was out to plunder? We must notice the
deployment of words and metaphors that represent this spectacle to the
readers of the New York Times, whose complicity in war crimes is explored
in the new book The Record of the Paper. The reader can absorb for herself
the impact and revelations of Michael Kimmelman who reveals much in describing
his experience of The Gates "with helicopters buzzing overhead and mobs .
on hand, an army of paid helpers". Sounds like election time in Iraq.
Many other critics and cognescenti have clamored to tout the shallower
aspects of this civic work, how it is quintessentially New York, how it
fulfills the most idealistic intentions of landscape architect Frederick
law Olmsted's vision of a utopian space, heart of democracy and such pomp and
nationalistic jingoisms. To that we assert, where was everyone when United
for Peace and Justice sought to get a permit for the rally? Where was
everyone when Bloomberg denied New Yorkers and the visitors that would
come to demonstrate peacefully and peacefully assemble the right to be in the
Park? And now it is revealed that, again, the Park easily accomodated
hundreds of thousands of us flowing through the greens.
In the same manner as organizations like UFPJ, while rather conventional,
mainstream and decidedly un-radical in their approach for some activists
and New Yorkers, nevertheless can, with their energetic supporters, bring many
people to the streets, to interact with others and then spark a dialogue,
an experience with the other ensues, which leads to tolerance, understanding,
love, mystery. Dancing off the cliff on the grass even.
Well, the energy behind the accomplishment of this public work may allow a
narrative to develop that qualifies The Gates to set a precedent to force
city officials to go along with other installations and demonstrations.
But examples abounded of similar heavily attended events, as when Pavarotti
sang before 250,000 people in 1993, 130,000 turned out for Pope John Paul's
open-air Mass in 1995, a quarter-million showed up for a Garth Brooks
concert in 1997, and 120,000 came out last fall to hear Dave Matthews.
But Mayor Bloomberg, in true retro Giuliani fashion, claimed he could pick
and choose which New Yorkers get to use the Park for a public event. He
announced in 2003 that The Gates would be going up, and the accompanying
mass of visitors to Central Park, but we couldn't muster the verve to
gather en masse ourselves.
The Gates is occurring in a space that was denied to We, the people, to
gather, that cannot be lost sight of in the dialogue or narrative that
emerges from and afterwards, if, to any of us, the function or role of art
still has a shred of possibility or relevance to improving our consciousness
leading to appreciation of life and more honesty and better relations with
ourselves and each other and then a more just way of being, all around. Or
then art is just to get rich and famous. As you like. Tens of thousands of
us went to Central Park anyway that day. I wish for a world in which the
UFPJ's say, we are marching from here to there and that is our right, instead
of begging for permission, or using the media to propagate a neo-liberal
perspective of the world and elevate themselves in the public
and their own eyes, while the real activists get sickened yet again. That's
what the Poor People's Campaign did with an un-permitted march from the United
Nations that same heady time. "Central Park is public space. Open and free
to all people" Christo and Jean Claude naively believe, or do they dare us
to prove it?
Which side are you on
Which side are you on
This time there are no sides we all are one.
Movement Song
And ultimately, freedom is all about as you like it. To view the police
state with paralysis, or dance in the streets. Who are you still in touch
with that you just met during the summer of 2004 when the Republican
National Convention was in town? Did you march and yell and be angry with
no usefulness to yourself and the causes you profess to work towards, with a
flippant remark for every experience of life, like "Fuck Corporate Art"?
Corporate art? So there I was at the Reverend Billy Weed and Seed
performance honoring publicly created space in the form of community
gardens, the only form of manifestation led by people, when will the
purists consider him "corporate" art?
As part of the evening he was performing exorcisms of credit cards. Most
people in the audience had one, at least, a savvy way of implicating
everyone in the global flow of finance and trade that evidences the
reliance on a system that extracts wealth from there to have cheap good here. It
was all in great fun and humor and much was made of one man in the audience
who had a Citibank card, clearly more egregious form of plastic, given their
record of financing destruction of the Amazon, while the Working Assets
card was given a social benediction. Before a progressive audience a hierarchy
of complicity was witnessed together. Allowing for space to find our own
balance in the guerdon of a sustainable existence on the planet, far more
complex and integrated than the orderly presentation of The Gates would
make it seem. Oh, and Reverend Billy married people in Central Park the day
others, like UFPJ, capitulated and even announced from loud speakers at
the end of large march where the dragon was burned in front of Madison Square
Garden to go home, no rally anywhere, and even directing people to the
nearest subway. This is where we are at. Recognize it.
Or maybe you met someone once or twice in the middle of Broadway, with a
red bandana on, or dancing in Union Square Park the night GW Bush read his
speech, or you struck up a conversation with your arms behind your back
sitting an oil soaked concrete floor after getting kicked in the head by a
riot cop all amped up from watching NYPD preparatory videos showing
footage of demonstrators somewhere interspaced with dead cops in some other
country, told by their sergeants that morning that you, yes you, were intending to
club and beat police officers, all of you out of towners, the anarchists,
and they ought to be ready, and now you still email or meet for lunch or
massages or work on some project together. Maybe you met someone you met
once before, now again, clubbed onto the pavement in front of Macy's ready
to occupy Herald Square with the pagans from California, all of you
lovable ones behind the mesh gates the police used to corral and trap and
illegally arrest hundreds of regular people in those heady August days. Have you
noticed that we haven't even mentioned the color of The Gates, to me, the
same color as the mesh weaves the Police sprung out in their ever more
sophisticated and brutal efforts to keep us under control.
The Gates is/are officially "saffron" colored, and this is the mendacity,
or hubris, of the artists on display, or a higher awareness. To us, The Gates
are "saffron" in the way that the color orange could be considered "Sunset
Peach" in a special paint catalogue. The Gates are orange like Home Depot,
home of prefab instant set-up things, like The Gates, like street cones
and like the mesh webbing so many New Yorkers and visitors were trapped in
like flies in 2004. The very safe aesthetics of Ikea.
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Para Samgate Bodhisvaha.
(Gone, Gone, Gone beyond Gone utterly beyond )
Buddhist Chant
Some say this work can only brighten the most morose with its bright hues
that turn almost luminescent, dreamy or mystical in the rising or setting
sun. Twenty five years in the works, we must appreciate the reflection on
every aspect of The Gates and that the color was not incidental. Orange is
the color of the Svadhisthana, the second chakra, located just below the
navel, or belly button. This chakra is considered the center of our sexual
drive and emotions. A deficiency of energy here may cause a person to be
immobilized by fear, burdened by guilt or distrustful.
In color therapy and awareness, orange is the color of joy, enthusiasm and
creativity and promotes a general sense of wellness, all desperately
needed in any urbanized environment. According to this world view, orange
increases self-esteem and confidence. A balance of orange will let a person handle
the ups and downs of life with aplomb, quickly recovering from disappointments
or wounded heart or pride.
When this Chakra is blocked we can experience: guilt, stiff lower back,
restlessness, confusion and lack of sexual desire or pleasure. Maladies
associated with the lungs are also attributed to a lack of energy here,
including asthma, which occurs in the highest rates in America in New York
City. With an overload of orange we become self-centered, manipulative,
and self serving, disregarding the needs of others, all traits on evident
display every day in New York City. Pride, and arrogance can push us out
of balance. New York spleen may be corrected by an infusion of orange peach
vibrations.
Too little orange and we become frigid, distrustful, timid or shy, and
overly sensitive. We lose our motivation, our self -esteem suffers, and we
have a tendency to isolate ourselves. We hide our emotions and are easily
hurt. This can lead to becoming mistrustful of others, introverted, unable
to show emotions, and worrying about what others think. People (or entire
cities?) experiencing emotional paralysis can be helped with this color.
Some texts that detail the beneficial aspects of color therapy indicate
that too much orange, or second chakra energy, may adversely affects the
nerves, and can also aggravate the second or sex chakra, leading to unhealthy
manifestations of physical interactions or obsessions. They maintain that
orange should be balanced with shades of blues. So, as you meander through
under and around The Gates, on a lovely day, with a friend, or two, look
up through the torri like frames to see the azure sky above.
If there is any color that can symbolize connection to spirit, or
religiosity, it is saffron. For Hinduism, it's the color of Agni or fire,
which symbolizes the Supreme Being. The saffron color, also auspicious to
the Sikhs, the Buddhists and the Jains, seems to have obtained religious
significance much before these religions came into being, before written
words, before history. Before neon glaring lights and psychodelic fake
colors, there would be the powerful effect of the light, bright saffron,
in its natural realm.
Fire worship had its origin in the Vedic age. The foremost hymn in the Rig
Veda glorifies fire: "Agnimile purohitam yagnasya devam rtvijam, hotaram
ratna dhatamam." When sages moved from one ashram to another, or during
important festivals, it was customary to carry fire along. The inconvenience
to carry a burning substance over long distances is thought to have given
impetus to the symbol of a saffron flag. Desecrating an American flag by
burning is frowned upon, but picturing Central Park lit up in beauteous
flames, is that The Gates? Among the Sikhs it is considered to be a
militant color signifying the fight against injustice. Saffron flags are seen
fluttering atop most Sikh and Hindu temples. Buddhist monks and Hindu
sadhus wear robes of this color as a mark of renunciation of material life.
Buddhist bhikkus (monks living upon alms) often wear saffron colored
robes. But among the Hindus this color is most prominently visible in their flag,
robes, the Tilaka, the mark applied on the forehead. In the diverse and
multifaceted Hindu religion, the saffron color is one of the very few
aspects that compels a widespread acceptance. The saffron pigment is
traditionally derived from the saffron plant (Autumn crocus) which is
called Keshar.
So, in a post 9-11 climate, any hint of expression embracing religious and
ethnic tolerance and diversity is welcome and needed. The choice of
saffron is an admirable one for its healing vibrations, tonic on the spirit and
representation of multi-culturalism. It can look nice in the raining sun.
Admittedly, though, it is challenging to embrace the ascetic sense that
might be connoted in the art because so much has been made of the
materialism of the piece and the cost and the donations of money and how
it hasn't cost the city anything. One might even begin to view the work, or
the artists, as colluding in a factory made series of Golden Arches aiming for
over a billion served. The obvious point nowadays, is that you can buy
anything, like 24-7 security and hundreds of cops, while the streets of
some neighborhoods of the City proliferate with drugs, violence muggings of
elders, shootings and other crimes. Not to mention access to the gated
community of Central Park and New York City to install more gates.
What of the resounding golden arches metaphor, was no one aware of this
too? The intermingling of art, high finance and low Americana, to state it all
briefly, could not have eluded Christo and Jean-Claude, no matter their
milieu. But what of Mc Donald,s? Is that for us merely a scene to
visualize bricks through windows as our only statement of disgust at corporate
culture and our desire and demand for a better world? I think not. I speak and
work and live around many elders, and people of all ages and races, who meet
every morning at their local micckie dees, for coffee and community. That
is their space, mediated and admittedly not very healthy for their veins and
arteries in the long run, but they embrace it. Should I judge them? Based
on what? And if I have a Working Assets credit card am I a better person than
you with the Citicorp card? What do we say, what do we propose how do we
engage them? And then where is the line if we say one thing is clearly
unhealthy, do I communicate with all my activist friends my belief that
alcohol stultifies us and cooked food is altogether poison and the dank
vault from which all the patriarchy, racism and injustice has
metastatized? Or do I go deeper into my own yoga practice with greater compassion,
appreciating the many diverse faces walking under and through The Gates,
so many out in the park, out in nature, with smiles and sharing food with
friends and family?
How do we engage each other, how can we speak from the heart and honestly
about our feelings and challenges or do we always leap to the macro
problems and avoid our own distress and vulnerabilities and complicity in it all?
The inner gates. It is said as well that the body has nine gates, the 2 eyes ,
ears and nostrils, the mouth, genitals and anus. And to be mindful of what
enters and passes from each of them.
Neither New York City nor the Park administration shall bear any of the
expenses for The Gates. The Gates Website
And money was bandied about in the days and weeks before the unveiling, as
it were. It was unavoidable to read that the $20 million dollars was all
paid by Christo and Jean Claude. It wouldn't cost a penny of tax payer
money. They assured us. Rather than reinforcing an image of fiscal
austerity and responsible stewardship of the public coffers, this instead was an
outright disavowal of the importance of art in the civic arena, a denial
and repudiation of the possibility that art is something to be cherished and
invested in. The question arises then, if this Gates stuff, not Bill
Gates, is all well and good and interesting, why isn't it worth a few dollars of
tax payer money? I mean, billions are going right now to kill many people
in Iraq, and elsewhere. And we here in New York recall that Bloomberg spent
$7 million dollars on the Republican National Convention of our money while
attempting to deny us the opportunity to gather right where the gates are
now. Instead. Art is to be consumed. Experience is to be had.
And, only a billionaire Mayor for Bush could bring up another salient
conflict of interest issue. The Mayor was directed to divest himself of
various stocks and financial interests as he became Mayor to avoid the
possibility or allegation of corruption or that governmental decisions
would be made to profit him. As a fervid collector of Christo and Jean-Claude's
work, isn't he helping the market for their products by serving as the
leading cheerleader for an initiative that did not happen for 24 years
until he stepped into Gracie Mansion? Although he doesn't live in Gracie
Mansion, but his own Mansion, and could serve the public by allowing some
families or returning homeless GI's to get on their feet again with a roof
over their
heads in our paid for fancy heated and lit shack on the East River. And
the cache of the gates might have been more civically invested and spread out
from Manhattan by planting some of them in run down parks and abandoned
waterfront spaces, thereby serving local goals by generating interest in
grass-roots efforts to revitalize and transform forgotten public spaces.
We were told, as well, and often, that Christo and Jean Claude receive no
proceeds, but that the monies form all sales of posters, drawings,
t-shirts, etc etc, would be donated to a non profit organization. A laudable gesture
dissolved in our eyes by cursory research into the recipient organization.
Imagine, to be the recipient of the largesse to flow from the entire gates
spectacle and the incredible work that could be accomplished with some
more resources! Well, it is the Nurture New York's Nature, Inc. Ever hear of
'em? This really great sounding entity is composed of three member
organizations, The Carriage House Center, a meeting place basically, important
surely, but not as impressive as Deutcsch Bank and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky
& Walker LLP. So, to recap, The Gates is not important enough to merit
any
investment by the City in its presentation, and the money generated from sales and
licensing and all such ultra capitalistic crass and elegant endeavors goes
to the above.
The Washington office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP represents
former WorldCom director James C. Allen, one of ten former directors of
WorldCom Inc. who agreed to pay $54 million -- including $18 million out
of their own pockets -- to settle part of a class-action securities lawsuit
stemming from the company's accounting scandal. The class-action suit had
been filed by shareholders and bondholders who lost billions of dollars
when the telecommunications giant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in
2002 after revealing it had manipulated its books to appear profitable in
three years when it was instead losing money.
Deutsche Bank stock fraud accusations have mainly focused on the
high-profile Enron scandal in recent months and how the firm helped Enron
set up an off-the-record partnership to bolster stocks. This Deutsche Bank
stock fraud, investigators claim, allowed the partner company, LJM, to buy
Enron stocks and assets. The LJM/ Deutsche Bank stock fraud arrangement
kept stock prices high by inflating earnings. Further accusations claim that
Deutsche Bank gave large sums of money to support LJM, and other Deutsche
Bank stock fraud allegations accuse the firm of giving investor,s unsound
advice about Enron,s stock value.
In addition, Deutsche Bank stock fraud suits have been compounded by
accusations against their US subsidiary, Banker,s Trust. While Deutsche
Bank stock fraud plans allegedly helped keep Enron afloat, Enron avoided taxes
for four years. And so on and on, for any bank. Though Deutsche is known
in New York City circles as being generous to a few local environmental
organizations.
Instead, what if, as good New Yorkers, Christo walked a few blocks from
his SoHo studio to Houston street to check in on the Times Up space, to learn
more about a grass roots environmental organization operating in his
backyard, city-wide. What if they donated the monies to Times Up or the
More Gardens!, 2 of the most active, direct action organizations that bring the
most powerful mainstream voices and resources to bear on our local
challenges, could they get away with it? Could they get away with
channeling the disposable income in such a manner? Could they get away with an
unapproved gesture? Or are all the gestures in this looping loop already
pre determined, an illusory precision by capital and government and artists in
collusion so there is no other path than what they prescribe? As Jean
Claude writes on their website, The Gates is for people "following the walkways,
and staying away from the grass". It is always our choice and empowerment
that we can follow the lines or go along with the triumphal procession,
heads bowed, or walk on the grass, climb a tree with your transgendered
lover or walk and dance and spin around. It always is our strategic choice
and embrace of the possible, within gravity, no matter if 200,000 tourists
walk in single file to Tavern on the Green like lemmings in Central Park.
We all have to meet each other and get along and let go this self
righteousness that criticizes or judges others because we think their
lifestyle is less sustainable or just than ours. The secret, and it is
comes to consciousness often through spiritual explorations, analysis and
interest in learning about one's self, is that they bring up for us our own
hypocrisy, and it is uncomfortable. We are all in the same bed with the
same sheets the same billowing fabric wraps our lives in a global web of
finance, repression and music and joy and even after February 28th when The Gates
are deinstalled.
It is not malice or viciousness that prompts most people, this is the
milieu of some well meaning and caring humans. We all seek Love in the best way
we know how. Some people know Earth First! as a vivid expression or
passionate action on behalf of the environment, others write a check to the Natural
Resource Defense Council and consider themselves thoroughly engaged. And
in what milieu do the purveyors of the Golden Arches find themselves? As
their website notes: "The Real Environmentalists such as "The Audubon Society"
and "The Sierra Club" usually find themselves on Christo and Jeanne-Claude's
side - because they are better informed." Now, it is probably lamentable
that I am no-longer naïve to ever be able to state so unequivocally that
the Sierra Club represents real environmentalists. But, that's me, and this
sweet, honest gesture is endearing, and harkens to some halcyon days that
no longer exist. Which may explain why some publication mentioned that The
Gates in its look and ambience had a "70's feel". Reminiscent of the long
petrol lines of automobiles lined up to fill their tanks.
Better informed as the grey vested "Gatekeepers" that paced certain
sections of the orange brocade like characters out of a Kafka novel, despite their
earnest sincerity. What was their responsibility? To make sure everything
goes right. What does it mean that everything is going right? That nothing
happens to The Gates, there is no graffiti, answer questions, like yours,
and, oh yeah, give out swaths of fabric.
In the bathroom of The Arsenal, the name for the Parks Department
headquarters, whose stairs are lined with rifles and cannonballs, another
grey vested man shares more about his experience as part of the team. He
participated in the unfurling, wielding a metal hook on an extend pole you
might find on a fishing excursion or river clean-up. The orange curtains
would drop like guillotines to seven feet above ground, above the
undulating, never straight or flat Earth. Where else in this man's life
could he be cheered by a crowd of people. For doing his job. This
community building aspect is highly important and already has its equivalent in the
affinity group model of direct action and social organizing or other
collective enterprises info shops such as Bluestockings Books and healthy
cafes and non alcoholic bars like Vitality on Ludlow Street. A place to
meet and gather and not need to get drunk.
The Critical Mass bike ride made it to Central Park on New Year's eve with
an atypical police escort, in that the officers did not intimidate families
and rev and charge and crash into the peaceful bike riders, but
accompanied us without incident in a collaborative manner till the nature
preserve was reached. Atop the castle Belvedere with a portable sound system
some
danced under the nite stars and shimmering Moon. I was awed to see bands and
gangs of people all across the lawns and paths from my perch atop the cliff
overlooking the moor and the ampitheatre. The same energy of togetherness
and care in the air, like during the blackout, like after the World Trade
Center was knocked down, and people seemed more friendly, more human. I
was pleasantly surprised to experience all these people looking up at the
night sky this mild winter night, I was astounded. Then the shrill screams and
crashing booms of the firework show brought me back to reality, and with
the crowd's cheer I held onto that vision of an other New York. It must be
said, that any effort that gets people away from their televisions or
horrifically violent video games or complacent cocoon and out into a park
or garden is to be valued and serves an important purpose in this day and
age.
There is no hope, your eyes
are not accustomed to seeing such things.
They are starting to evolve an American gait
Out of the cautious steps of the Indians
on the paths of empty Manhattan.
Maybe it only seems that way.
Annie Dillard
As Dr. Richard Ingersoll, notes, ever since the Romans, states have relied
on a language of architectural forms to make their cities. Columns, or now
street lamps and electricity poles, and increasingly uniform newspaper
vending machines, delineate regular edges for major streets and for public
space. Arches allowed architecture to move and cover the loose ends of
open space. The Romans assimilated the Greek building types and the Hellenistic
arrangement of managed space to create an urban experience that was
completely architectural. Nature was no longer an equal partner and
openness was no longer oblique and casual: Everything was architecture and thus
subject to the laws of symmetry, and everything was the city, governable,
there is an attempt to have no loose ends or anarchy.
Every detail of subduing the vagaries of nature has been accounted for.
Every arch of The Gates has a leveling plate between the base anchor
sleeve and the steel base, with a pivoting bolt which will "ensure the perfect
verticality of the poles, even when the walkways are inclined." Why a
world in which the perfect verticality should be ensured? Isn't it the curves
and flow and waves that make the world so wonderful? When still and motionless
the Gates are like so many guillotines lined up for the public spectacle,
or the causeway for a hangman's noose.
It's like they want to embrace the view of us as presented in the Les
Americans the photo book of photos by Robert Frank and introduced by Jack
Keroauc that has a swirling cartoonish street life, with graph papered
skyscrapers shooting up from the undulating surface, leaving no room for
free expression or avoiding the grip of the grid. The rigid, fixed, sentinel
gates enclose the flowing, flapping saffron fabric. Is there a more perfect
representation of our modern mediated existence? The orange curtains are
like on a stage of the theatre, but they never open, and the viewers could
walk on endlessly before they realized that they are the Hunger Artists,
they are the show. We are the show, the art and content and value, regardless
of the presence of The Gates, the government or anything else. We have nature,
and each other. And as Gary Snyder wrote, there is No Nature. So we have
only each other.
The fabric part of the work does blow in the wind, wave in the breeze and
indicate the flow of energy through the bare limbed trees like the rippled
surface of a lake as water dragons glide across invisibly. It's a unique
perspective to see the curtains waving one after the other to the north,
while fifty feet yonder another intestinal row flaps to the south. While
the art itself creates an impact from its incessant predictability, the
interaction of the environment, light and air, people, reveals the
fluidity and chaos that surrounds us, naturally. Do we walk along heads bowed,
spirits cowed by fascistic golden archways or swerve and swirl around and
through and make for The Ramble to laugh and talk from our hearts with
lovers new and old?
What of a world where we all traipse through Central Park to walk under
the curtains shed the robes of puritanical fundamentalism that has alienated
us from what is real and break on through to the other side to see the moon
and dance in the sun and be naked in our own skin?
E.M.
70. February 16, 2005 4:43 PM
For your amusement, from a fellow boobois.
http://www.not-rocket-science.com/gates.htm
Roughneck
71. February 16, 2005 8:30 PM
I loved your views on the Christo Jeanne-Claude "art display in Central Park
Wehad the opportunity to see it Sat. and was impressed by the crowds and
the tumult. In the future would you send your musings to ksaccaro@aol.com
I loved hearing from you. The other e-mail address is my wifes and she does
not inform me of your messages any more. Come to S.I. we are having a wine
and
light repast on MARCH 11 from 5:30 till 8:30 P.M. You would be ,of course, our guest. Let me know.
Sincerely Your Friend
SIRACCO
72. February 16, 2005 9:21 PM
Although I'm a Tom Wolfe fan, and thus a natural skeptic of this kind of
"art," I intend to visit "Gates" this weekend to see it for myself (hopefully
very early in the morning, to avoid crowds). But even without visiting
it I think a few points can be made:
1) I think the concessions won by various negotiators -- most importantly:
1) no permanent damage to the park; 2) timing the event to occur during the
"slow" season of tourism; 3) having all the costs borne by Christo
-- are the important story here. With these concessions, "Gates" becomes
a win / win proposition. The question of whether it is a work of art
or not becomes more of a theoretical pop culture question -- like, who deserves
to win the Academy Award for . . . -- and less of a question that might be
important in civic terms. (Except, perhaps to the extent that its "success"
enables the artworld elite to foist similar, but more permanent, works of
"art" onto the general public.)
2) It would be interesting to consider whether the feel good feeling
generated so far by "Gates" would have been the same under less fortunate
conditions -- say, if NYC were struck by a heavy, heavy snow storm at the
beginning of the week scheduled for the installation of "Gates"; followed
by an extreme spell of bitterly cold temperatures and high winds. One
assumes that under these conditions, installing "Gates" would have been near
impossible and there would probably have been lots of hotel room cancellations,
etc. -- leaving a lot of businesses that had prepared for an increase in
business high and dry.
3) My tentative opinion is that "Gates" is overrated as "art" -- that it
is not "high" art, but something "artful" and "fun." Here are some
other examples of things that are "artful" and "fun," but not necessarily
"high" art:
Living on Sullivan St., I always used to love it when St. Anthony's, in preparation
for its street fair, would erect those poles with incadescent lights and
green, white and red fuzzy "bunting." I also happen to enjoy buildings
-- in suburban, not urban environments -- where open arcades form courtyards
and cloisters. To me, the "artfulness" of "Gates" seems to be somewhat
along these lines -- it creates a colorful "arcade" that makes certain parts
of the park into temporary cloisters or atria.
So I think of Christo "Gates" as being an "artful" combination of these "fun"
kinds of things. And as long as it causes the park no damage, is temporary
and is free from gov't subsidy, it seems like a legitimate, "fun" use of
the park.
4) Christo no doubt deserves some kind of Nobel / Pritzker caliber award
for putting together an artful / fun event that was able to capture the imagination,
time, energy and dollars of so many people. (Perhaps an eccentric billionaire
can establish a yearly "P.T. Barnum Prize" -- as P.T. Barnum also was an
conceptual artist with the talent of tapping into peoples' psyche to provide
them with a "fun" time as a result -- and give Christo the first award?)
So, while I'm not inclined to take "Gates" seriously as high art, I do believe
that there is a genuine "artfulness" involved in coming up with a "concept"
that would be able to utilize Christo's modus operandi in a novel way for
a Central Park setting and at the same time be able to appeal to his "snobby"
artworld constituency.
5) I also have to admit to some envy on my part -- as I have four ideas for
what I see as similar (but "better") environmental art installations for
New York City and Central Park, and Christo has been able to realize his,
and mine will never really see the light of day (beyond this e-mail):
IDEA I: I find it amazing that so many of NYC's visually inclined citizens
seem to ignore just how ugly our civic environment has become with the --
perhaps economically necessary -- shift from "diamond-like" incandescent
street lights to ugly, somewhat "bug light" like, sodium vapor lights.
(Just look at about any nighttime photo of New York City streets from the
1960s and earlier and see the magic of incadescents.)
When the streets for Battery Park City were first laid out, before there
were any buildings whatsoever and they were just weirdly complete streets
running through empty land, I thought wouldn't it be great work of environmental
art if, for a one month period, the northern half of the streets had bishop
crook street lamps illuminated by incandescents and the southern half of
the streets had bishop crook street lamps illuminated by sodium vapor street
lamps. People would be able to experience in a very visceral way just
how beauty incadescent street lamps use to add to our streets and just how
much ugliness sodium vapor street lamps add to them now.
IDEA II: Along similar lines, it's amazing how aggressively ugly our subway
stations have become after years and years of accumulated minor alterations
here and there -- for instance, the replacing of incandescent light bulbs
that use to form a pattern that worked with the interior architecture of
a train station (with the grain) with florescents that work against a station's
established archtitecture (against the grain), etc. Admittedly our
subway stations were never great works of art in the first place, but there
was a certain handsome, utilitarian consistency and integrity to their design.
Work of environmental art: Have one (and only one) station in each of the
original systems (IRT, BMT and IND) re-designed to be exactly they way they
were on opening day (incandescent light bulbs, wooden railings, etc.).
(I realize there would have to be some fudging for safety reasons -- i.e.,
yellow paint and raised flooring near the ends of the platform. But
where there is a will, there's a way. And I'm sure something appropriate
could be thought up.)
Idea III: There are a number of prominent buildings in New York that
were never truly completed or have lost important components of their architecture.
Wouldn't it be a great work of environmental art if someone gave such buildings
their missing component? (Photographing, for "art's sake," the structure
both before and after.)
For instance, Chelsea Vocational High School sits in a visually prominent
spot in SoHo. And for the last 35 years I have thought to myself what
a truly handsome building and civic adornment it would be if someone would
only give the school a replacement cornice for the one that was so obviously
there at one time.
IDEA IV: When I went to Hunter College I use to try to walk across Central
Park in the middle of day during the week. I discovered that I liked
this experience much less than I thought I would because 1) it was hard to
figure out what walkways led where; 2) the Park was pretty empty during
the week, even on nice days. (And I don't care how safe New York City
is, someone is asking for trouble walking alone -- especially bogged down
with books, etc. -- through a virtually empty part of Central Park.);
and 3) combining the first two reasons, exploring various paths in order
to determine which led across the park, led to walking into a number of "spooky"
dead-ends.
Thus it occurred to me wouldn't it be a great (and useful) piece of environmental
art if the Parks Department somehow "color coded" (in some way, see below)
the very best paths to take when walking across the park? Such "color
coding" would not only make it easier to cross the park, but by making it
easier would also probably draw more cross town walkers, thus allowing even
more pedestrians to experience the delights of the park when going cross
town.
Now by "color coding" I don't mean day-glow orange, or "Gates"-like saffron.
Actually, although it probably would strike the "snobby" arts establishment
as too "cutesy," how about Hansel and Gretel inspired "petrified" pieces
of bread placed maybe four or five feet apart? (Which would thus become
a a kid-friendly work of environmental art.)
Or maybe the embedded pieces of tile in the asphalt pavement could be the shape and color of a particular kind of twig or leaf?
B.H.
- - - - - - -
P.S. -- It would have been interesting to see what would have happened to
Christo if his work of environmental art had not involved saffron gates,
but "yardarms" instead?
73. February 17, 2005 9:20 AM
Terrific article - I really enjoyed it. I haven't seen the spectacle yet
but find your description of thousands of hanging schmatas flapping in
the breeze hilarious. I probably will not get a chance to see the exhibit.
Our first son, Sebastian S. Kaldor, arrived on 2/13 -- even though he is
not orange, I will likely choose to hang around up here (in Fishkill) with
him rather than see the schmatas. Lu Ann and Sebastian are doing well.
Cheers,
S.K.
74. Wednesday, February 16, 2005 6:05 PM
i AM HAPPY TO SEE COLORFUL ENVIRONMENTAL ART AND MANY
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN FASCINATED ALL GOOD....BUT LETS HOPE THE ECONOMIC
CRIDIT THEY CLAIM CAN BE ACURATELY DETERMINED BECAUSE MANY VISITORS
MAY HAVE SCHEDUELED A TRIP NOW INSTEAD OF EARLIER OR LATER.
mORE IMPORTANTLY........... a LITTLE LESS ORANGE IN THE PARK WOULD
STILL HAVE BEEN A BIG DYNAMIC SHOW AND COULD HAVE LEFT A LEGACY OF
SCHOLARSHIPS OR OTHER GOOD WORKS IG SPONSORS HAD MADE SURE THE HAD SOME
GREEN$$$ LEFT OVER
J.H.
75. February 17, 2005 12:22 AM
You wrote an excellent article on a complex topic. One thing I really
like about your writing is that you present all sides of every issue.
My father called me to denounce the Gates project from his home in Fresno,
California, expecting me to defend it. I did not defend the project,
although my division at Parks is providing operational support for the Gates.
I feel that Christo's idea is not creative, it's unpleasant to look at, and
the artist chose an ugly color that evokes thoughts of dishwashing gloves,
or emergency worker vests.
My father is a talented artist and calligrapher himself, who has studied
many artistic traditions from around the world, and he is utterly unimpressed
based on what he has seen and read of the Gates in print and on television.
He also pointed something out that I haven't seen anywhere in the media:
the Gates concept is a direct copycat of flags that have been hanging from
Shinto temples in Japan for many centuries. Right down to the color
and the gate structure.
While it's true that the Gates is probably done on a larger scale than any
of the Japanese installations, the fact that something similar has existed
elsewhere cheapens the effect for me, even if the artist created the concept
without knowledge of the Shinto temples. Considering Christo's international
experience, I doubt this was inadvertent.
There is another fact worth noting. On my way out of the park yesterday,
at the entrance near the pond on Central Park South, I saw an elderly man
trip on a flag base and nearly tumble down the long set of stairs; luckily
he caught himself just in time. It was evening and the bases are dark.
Thank God the man did not hurt himself; on a side note it may have been a
major lawsuit. I plan to bring this issue up to my superiors.
I have begun an online search for photographic evidence of similar-looking
Shinto installations, and if I do find anything I can email it to you.
take care,
Mahout
76. February 17, 2005 9:36 AM
A quick reply from Seagull after only one Gates exposure, on Sunday afternoon,
for a long walk from the upper 80s down almost to 59th, then working our
way back north and over to the west side exiting at the Tavern on the Green.
Our initial impression: it's exciting, brings so many people together in
a festive and happy spirit, converted my husband after only walking for a
little ways into the Park just north of the Met and he had been very sceptical
as he kept hearing about the whole project. I'll get back after another
exposure this weekend or maybe even tomorrow. So long from Seagull
And I have not read you entire piece on The Gates but I will! So long.
77. February 15, 2005 4:27 PM
You've certainly convinced me to hike up and take a look although probably
not in the condition I would have preferred snow which I am sure would have
( and still conceivably might ) provide the most interesting dynamic in which
to judge. As to the Cristos' unless you have information to the contrary
which I have not seen every time I look at photos of those 7500 gates I see
a massive marketing campaign coming afterwards to sell each and every ( numbered
limited edition ) gate to institutions and individual collectors for hefty
sums. Would they try to get $5000 a gate ( total $37,000,000 + ) ?? That
would net them a very nice profit. Or even possibly auction them on eBay
??
You might try to find out what will happen to the gates ( probably no more
difficult than one call to Adrian ? ) if no one has yet reported on
the subject. And IF they will be sold the issue of the city participating
in the processes as the gates would be worthless without their being first
exhibited in Central Park first! You "could" end up with an exclusive .....
" WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE GATES "
A.P.
78. February 15, 2005 1:53 PM
I've really got a subject for you. Yesterday, I was in a cab going up C.P.W.
and looked at the shitty orange rags on the wooden frames dotting the park.
DISGUSTING.
An absolute waste of money to feed the sick egocentric mind of arrogant individuals.
When Bloomberg said the City is not paying any part of the 21 million dollar
expense, he should be hit over the head. What about all the cops standing
around protecting this farce? There were more cops sitting in these
3 wheelers doing 24 hour 'Watch" duty than during the Republican Convention.
What an absolutely egocentric waste of time, money, civic pride, proper use
of the facility, arrogant use of public land and mis-use of the public weal.
I hate to ever admit that guiliani was right about anything, but he was right
when he refused these 2 brainless twits the right of the park. Do they
have permits? did they get permits from the Parks Dept.?
B.C.
79. February 17, 2005 10:25 PM
On Wednesday, I sent out to the HUMOR list a single image under the subject
"A Better Version of 'The Gates'?" I only later realized that this
image is just one of several from a larger installation entitled "The Somerville
Gates." Since I think this installation is probably at least as artistically
important--and far funnier--I am sending to the CULTURE list the link to
the main page of the full installation (http://www.not-rocket-science.com/door_gates.htm) as well as the following statement from Hargo, the creator of the Somerville Gates.
D.P.
80. February 17, 2005 6:33 PM
The Christo exhibition is an abomination. The park should at all times
be enough of an artistic presence with its own (non entirely) natural beauty.
The cartoon in the N.Y. Post earlier this week although perhaps mean spirited
was right on the mark. When the exhibition is over the fabric
could be made over into orange jump suits if the artists don't come up with
the money promised.
B.N.
81. February 18, 2005 11:31 PM
Christo is performing a valuable service for posterity. He is leaving for
future generations clear evidence of the aesthetic depths to which late 20th-early
21st century society has fallen. Those who will one day giggle at our gullibility
are the true beneficiaries of Christo's craft. He will make them glad they
didn't live in a culture that mistook folly for art.
C.W.
82. February 20, 2005 12:57 AM
Where were you when they destroyed The Gates.
That's the question history we ask.
How we allowed the Cristo & Company to destroy his work of "Art"
No matter what we think, or pen, The Gates are now part of our city's history and history will demand answerers
I for one know history, and it will not look kindly on those who did nothing, while The Gates were destroyed.
So time is short, and history demands that you act to save some of them.
VJ
83. February 20, 2005 12:47 PM
My friend Sharon Garfunkel forwarded your "Color Me Orange" essay, and I'm delighted she did so.
Last Saturday before preparing to go to synagogue I did my usual Saturday
morning exercise walk in the park, timed to catch the "opening" (or unfurling)
of The Gates. During the previous week, when I'd been walking in the park
I'd seen the crews working, and begun musing, and wondering about the finished
work. At the very least, I figured it would be pleasantly whimsical.
The opening process itself was quite interesting; I only had time to witness
the first group on the south side of 72nd Street at Fifth Avenue.
Later that day, around 3:00, I took another walk through part of the park,
this time, from 72nd to about 85th, as I wanted to get a sense of the entire
display.
Here's my assessment:
1. The emperor's new clothes, absolutely! The only difference here is that WE (NYC) didn't have to pay for it.
2. Saffron is NOT orange, it's yellow. Why do they keep calling it saffron?
And it's UGLY in our park, not to mention all those sharp angles obstructing
the view of many of Olmsted's and Vaux's beautifully curving, meandering
walks and paths.
3. At the same time, since most of the park is various tones of gray at
this time of the year, I suppose it does brighten it up a bit. But wouldn't
either bright rainbow colors have done the same? Or even the primaries--red,
blue, yellow?
4. It IS interesting as an exercise in decorative engineering.
5. As you pointed out, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and as art this project does not engage me at all.
6. On the plus side, probably the park will never ever again see as many
visitors during the two middle weeks in February, and god bless the hot dog
vendors, I know they need the money.
I hope I'm sending this to the correct address for comments, and if so, if
my comments are too lengthy please feel free to edit down.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Dietrich
84. February 22, 2005 1:15 PM
I grew up nearly in sight of the orange torii in the Brooklyn Botanic
Gardens (my wife worked in Clara Barton High School which actually
overlooks the Japanese Garden's torii) and we still live in walking
distance of the Gardens. I lived a year in Japan and saw many more
toriis, so the sight of 23 miles of toriis marching through Central Park was
neither unpleasant nor that unusual. Like you, I'm also glad it's not
permanent.
Two somewhat related comments on what is art and what it cost.
Fairly recently, NYC DOT wrapped both the Williamsburg and Manhattan
Bridge towers in white mylar. For at least a week each of these bridge towers
were totally wrapped from tip to water line, before weather and work
started to change the appearance. Of course the wrapping was done to
prevent lead releases during the bridges' repainting, but frankly, how
much did these wraps differ from the Christo work at the Reichstag? Is it that
Christo's works have absolutely no value beyond their temporary existence,
while the bridges in white were wrapped for a technical need? Good
engineering can be a great piece of art as well. Eye of the beholder,
indeed.
A good argument can be made that the $21 million raised for the Gates
would never have raised for something else, but one wonders. We have an
unfinished piece of art here in New York that could make good use of $21
million. The Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened 40 years ago without the two
walkway-bikepaths that were in Ammann's original plans. These paths would
provide world class views of the NY harbor that rival the Golden Gate and
Brooklyn Bridge views, as well as providing 2 mile additions of the Shore
Parkway walkway-bikeway and Fort Wadsworth-South Beach waterfront paths.
Pathways across the Narrows would attract tourists just as the Golden Gate
does in San Francisco, with a similar long term posi
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