The Gates

NoName · #1 02-14-2005, 03:05 PM

http://www.nypost.com/commentary/21923.htm

Quote:

It's time to let the truth be known: "The Gates" — that manically promoted, ludicrously expensive sculpture project now infesting Central Park — is the artistic equivalent of a yard that's been strewn with stained toilet paper by juvenile delinquents on Halloween.

It is the defacement of beauty, not its creation — a fraud perpetrated on the people by no-talent hypemasters and their chief cheerleader in City Hall.

Please, make them go away!

Walking into the park yesterday, I was assaulted by thousands of what looked like shower curtains twisting in the wind. I had found "The Gates." [...]

"The Gates" is an abomination. Call me a Philistine, but how can one improve on trees, lakes and rocky outcroppings with miles of plastic-treated cloth?

It's enough of a sin that "The Gates" overpowers Central Park's soaring, hypnotic beauty. But the color of these bed sheets, plunked down on metal frames every 12 feet throughout the park, is so atrocious that the project's creators ought to be charged with assault.

I should hate this pretentious and ugly "art", but for some reason (after walking along Central Park West) I don't, at least as a very short-term thing, and a lot of people seemed to be interested in it for whatever reason.

Maine-iac · #2 02-14-2005, 03:18 PM

I've only seen pictures, but as a temporary thing it seems OK. It's eyecatching and arresting. As long as it's coming down at some point, and there weren't lots and lots of tax dollars spent on it. (Don't know that "disposable art" can be considered a good use of public funds in a cash-straped city, but I don't have any idea how it was funded.)

The Waiting Hurts · #3 02-14-2005, 03:20 PM

I saw them Saturday and thought it look like remnants from a parade.

Pseudolus · #4 02-14-2005, 03:24 PM

I don't know about this "artwork" in particular, but, in general, "Christo" funds his whatchamacallits himself through sales of prints and such.

micaelagb · #5 02-14-2005, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pseudolus

I don't know about this "artwork" in particular, but, in general, "Christo" funds his whatchamacallits himself through sales of prints and such.

They paid for/financed the whole thing themselves. $20 million?! Whew!

From New York magazine: http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/features/10897/

Quote:

He leaves Jeanne-Claude downstairs to conduct interviews and schedule visits by collectors, several of whom now visit their studio each day. The works are priced by size: The small collages, measuring eleven inches by eight and a half inches, sell for $30,000; the wall-size drawings, at four and three quarters feet by eight feet, go for $600,000. The Gates, which is being financed entirely by the Christos, with not a penny of grants, city money, or donations, is budgeted at $20 million—which translates to a lot of collages, drawings, sketches, and models. “Nobody comes up here unless they are buying!” Jeanne-Claude says. “Are you buying?”

Not sure how much I'll like it, but I want to see it before it's taken down.

JMO · #6 02-14-2005, 04:07 PM

I saw another critic who disliked the color, and I have to agree somewhat. The color is supposed to be "saffron" which I expected to be a strong yellow, but what they used is more like day-glow orange. Or maybe the shade that Cheetos come in. Hmmmmm.