Barbarian at the Gates

...As in Christo's Gates.  I was up in Manhattan this weekend for the Politician's birthday, which was celebrated with much aplomb.  We saw the cheerleader-assisted pop-punk band "Bling Kong" (not even close to safe for work, particularly given the rather... "enthusiastic" advice column therein) at the Mercury Lounge, which may be one of the more surreal live acts I've ever seen.  I highly recommend a viewing, if you get the chance. 

Saturday was spent drinking much coffee and then engaging in a forty block tromp around Central Park to take pictures of The Gates.   I shot three or four rolls there, so I should have something up soon (actually, I've got a few rolls I've been waiting on, (1) because I need to get a new scanner, and (2) because I've been spending every shop class working on developing the new site). 

I don't think Christo, artist behind The Gates, is any sort of genius.  As I said to a fellow tri-state area blawger, I think there's a certain element of "The Music Man" con artistry behind these giant art projects that Christo does, but that works out just fine. 

See, the key thing is not that there was art in Central Park.  There's always art in Central Park, whether it be the sculptures throughout (even some of the playgrounds, like the Safari Park, are art) or the Met or the view of Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim.  The key thing about the Gates?  New Yorkers (and the like) were promenading about the park as though it were the 19th Century.  They We wandered aimlessly (which, I can assure you, is not a normal behavior for New Yorkers).  Strangers chatted (again, rare in privacy-respecting New York) with each other. 

The art itself was pleasant, unassuming stuff.  The Gates remind me of Shinto arches, and have a moderate height (the enormity of the project comes from the miles and miles of the park covered in these orange nylon-and-steel archways).  I don't know how well my pictures will come out, as they are just big enough and (strangely) unevenly spaced out, so that a multiple gate shot is not always uniform. 

Comments

[pops]

When I was around 12 or 13 Christo decided to hang a curtain over a canyon gap near Rifle, CO. It was fought tooth-and-nail but it went up and stayed up for a few hours before the wind tore it to pieces. All involved pro & con made serious jackasses of themselves during the process.

For years my pals and I would see "art" and say "Oh yeah, that's so good Christo must have done it!"

[bicyclemark]

I was just remembering, almost completely unrelated, in the Movie the Truman Show how the director is supposed to be this artistic genious named Christoff. I thought that whole good-intentioned genious artist thing was a cool role.

[yasmín]

How long are the Gates supposed to stay up?

Christo and his wife were interviewed on GMA the other morning, and well, I don't know if eccentric is quite the right word to describe the duo.

Anyway, I'm looking foward to your photographs.

[j-a]

we went on saturday to see them - they are giant orange shower curtains.

[TPB, Esq.]

Yasmin, they're supposed to stay up until 2/25/05.

[TPB, Esq.]

Mark, Christof is a great character. I like that he wants desperately to be a "benevolent god," but cannot get over the notion of the loss of control over his subject. The Truman Show remains one of my favorite movies. Someday, I need to go down to Seaside, Florida, the planned community where the movie was filmed.

[TPB, Esq.]

Similarly, in College, I did my own version of "art" akin to Christo's: I donated a bit of wet toilet paper and white paint to the base of a golden statue of an eagle outside the Alumni Stadium.

[bicyclemark]

Hmmm... Im a fledging Christo myself.. I used to hurdle toiletpaper and my friends house on haloween. Why? Hey man... its my art.