Randy Remote wrote: > > > Has anyone here experienced one of Christo's projects? > > Yes, I saw his Running Fence in Sonoma County, Calif. circa > 1976 or so, a big white billowing fabric fence that ran for miles > over hill and dale before plummeting into the Pacific Ocean. > I was skeptical about it at first, but seeing it in person made a > powerful impression. We drove along for miles, and there it was, > amongst the cows and meadows.
That sounds great! That's the kind of experience that just can't come across in photos. I can only imagine the "billowing" of the fence or all the different views, over time, as you travel past it. Cows, really? Thanks Randy. When I again have the time to read all the messages, I'll get back to giving my (perhaps obnoxiously) emphatic opinions on politics/religion/abortion/and whatever other controversial topics were covered recently (I do read the subject headings). I'll have to catch it all on the next go round, maybe. (I do hope I didn't miss any poetically expressed Bush bashing.) For now, this is part of the article that was in today's Art Newspaper: Mayor Bloomberg announces that The Gates will take place in 2005 By Jason Edward Kaufman NEW YORK. On 22 January, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that artists Christo & Jeanne-Claude will be permitted to install their temporary work The Gates in Central Park for two weeks in February 2005. The huge project will consist of 7,500 16-foot-high gateways straddling the park's paved pathways, each to be constructed of recyclable vinyl poles with synthetic yellow fabric suspended from its horizontal crossbar to about 7 feet above the ground. Spaced every 10 or 15 feet, the fabric-flapping portals will follow 23 miles of park pathsnearly matching the length of the artists' 24-mile Running Fence of 1976. The City emphasised that the artists would bear all costs, that no holes would be dug in the ground, and that use of the park would be undisturbed. Officials estimate that the project will generate between $72 million and $136 million in economic output and between $2.5 million and $5 million in City tax revenues. ... never has any temporary installation remotely approached the ambition or scale of the mega-proposal now pending by the wrap stars Christo and Jeanne-Claude. When they first proposed The Gates in 1979, they were turned down, but two decades later, when businessman Michael Bloomberg became mayor, they saw a new window of opportunity. Mr Bloomberg, an arts aficionado, had visited their studio, and when they revived their proposal the mayor quickly announced his support. The Central Park Conservancy, which advises the City on park management, recently gave its approval, and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe has now followed suit. Several factors have influenced the latters decision to give the green light: first, the artists have scaled down their original proposal and minimised its environmental impact; second, the cost to the city will be nominal; and third, the City is keenly aware that a free attraction such as The Gates is sure to be an upbeat tourist draw, one with the potential to soothe the Citys still damaged psyche. Michael Kimmelman, chief critic of The New York Times, has argued persuasively in favour of the project, but other commentators have railed against it as dated, overblown, and ugly. The artists maintain it will underline the organic design of the park [and] be a memorable joyous experience for every New Yorker. They are probably right. Even if The Gates project lacks the aesthetic elegance of the Pont Neuf Wrapped (1985), the environmental resonance of Surrounded Islands (1983), and the political punch of Wrapped Reichstag (1995), it will certainly register a notch above another round of Cow Parade. * * * * * Debra Shea
