Monday, February 28, 2005
The Gates
Central Park's The Gates, which I found to be somewhat less-than-inspiring, will slowly begin to be dismantled today.
According to Campbell Robertson in THE NEW YORK TIMES:
"Art is long, and life is short, and city contracts are even shorter. The dismantling of the 7,500 gates was to start first thing today, and, [artist] Jeanne-Claude said, in keeping with her and [the other artist] Christo's agreement with the city, it all has to be gone by March 15. That schedule is fine with her. February was the only month the project would work, she said, when the trees are leafless and row upon row of color can be seen in every direction."
While strolling through Central Park, last week, I came upon a Gates-admiring 20-something-year-old woman, who in her best pretentious tone described the exhibit to her friend as "transitory."
A nearby New York cop then chuckled, "Yeah, it's transitory all right. They'll soon be transitioning those things right outta here."
And not too soon for my taste.
Don't get me wrong, I have a tremendous love of - and appreciation for - art. But at a distance, The Gates reminded me of orange construction-site markers. Up close, they reminded me of... well... great big orange construction-site markers made of fabric.
Maybe I just don't get it... or perhaps it's hard for a "Gamecock" to appreciate anything orange.
Oh well, I suppose I was fortunate to experience The Gates in the snow.
Meanwhile, another catastrophic insurgent attack has taken place in Iraq's notorious Triangle of Death, south of Baghdad. This time in the town of Al Hillah where a suicide car bomber blew himself up, killing at least 106 bystanders and wounding another 133 (the earliest numbers we have), most of whom were Iraqi police and national guard recruits.
According to Campbell Robertson in THE NEW YORK TIMES:
"Art is long, and life is short, and city contracts are even shorter. The dismantling of the 7,500 gates was to start first thing today, and, [artist] Jeanne-Claude said, in keeping with her and [the other artist] Christo's agreement with the city, it all has to be gone by March 15. That schedule is fine with her. February was the only month the project would work, she said, when the trees are leafless and row upon row of color can be seen in every direction."
While strolling through Central Park, last week, I came upon a Gates-admiring 20-something-year-old woman, who in her best pretentious tone described the exhibit to her friend as "transitory."
A nearby New York cop then chuckled, "Yeah, it's transitory all right. They'll soon be transitioning those things right outta here."
And not too soon for my taste.
Don't get me wrong, I have a tremendous love of - and appreciation for - art. But at a distance, The Gates reminded me of orange construction-site markers. Up close, they reminded me of... well... great big orange construction-site markers made of fabric.
Maybe I just don't get it... or perhaps it's hard for a "Gamecock" to appreciate anything orange.
Oh well, I suppose I was fortunate to experience The Gates in the snow.
Meanwhile, another catastrophic insurgent attack has taken place in Iraq's notorious Triangle of Death, south of Baghdad. This time in the town of Al Hillah where a suicide car bomber blew himself up, killing at least 106 bystanders and wounding another 133 (the earliest numbers we have), most of whom were Iraqi police and national guard recruits.
# posted by W. Thomas Smith, Jr. @ 6:36 AM 
