I just got home from a whirlwind overnight trip to New York City, where Leslee and I met up with Elck and Dave to visit Central Park and walk the Gates.
When I first conceived the crazy notion to go to New York City for a day, I was smitten by the idea of seeing Central Park, one of my favorite places on God’s green earth, decked in festive saffron splendor. I wasn’t a particular fan of Christo and Jeanne-Claude: although I like art, contemporary art is not something I’m well-versed in. But being a long-time admirer of Frederick Law Olmsted, the 19th-century landscape architect who envisioned an enormous public park where naysayers saw nothing but swampland, pig farms, and decrepit wood buildings, I was curious to see Christo’s 21st-century handiwork overlaid on Olmsted’s creation.
At first glance, it seems strange to see golden-orange gates sprouting from Central Park’s “natural” landscape, even when the reddish-yellow tint of flowering witch hazel complements the hues of Christo’s creation. But truth be known, Central Park is entirely man-made. According to my favorite New York guidebook, the creation of Central Park required 10 million cartloads of rock and soil and 500,000 transplanted shrubs and trees. When you consider how grand a scheme it was to sculpt an 843-acre park from the ground up, Christo’s vision seems less grandiose, the act of adding saffron icing to Olmsted’s stone-and-soil cake.
Traversed with nearly 60 miles of trail, path, and road, Central Park is a pedestrian paradise. How fitting, then, that Christo and Jeanne-Claude would envision golden gates as being the proper ornament for Manhattan’s green heart, for gates (unlike solid sculpture) are intended to be walked through, not merely observed from afar. Like the installation pieces I blogged after visiting Mass MoCA last summer, the Gates are a work of participatory performance art. The Gates aren’t designed to be looked at; the Gates are designed to be walked through. The great beauty of the Gates isn’t their color or even their number: it is the great undulating wave of supple saffron juxtaposed with the festive intermingling of crowds of anonymous strangers, much of the city and folks from around the world coming out to promenade together under billowing gold shadows.
Given the communal nature of the Gates–the way this particular artwork involves the movement of strangers through public space–it seemed the perfect setting to meet two bloggers I knew only virtually and get re-acquainted with a third I’d interacted with only once last October. When I first announced to some online friends that I was thinking of taking a quick trip to New York City this weekend, Leslee said she’d be interested in car-pooling, Elck said we could stay at his apartment, and Dave said he might have a friend with whom he’d carpool from Pennsylvania to join us. At first blush, it seems crazy to drive two hours to stay overnight with a woman I’ve met only once and then drive three more hours to sleep in the living room of a man I’ve never met. Would Leslee and I drive each other crazy on the road-trip down? Would Elck turn out to be an obnoxious jerk and Dave an arrogant jackass? Having read Leslee’s, Elck’s, and Dave’s blogs, I thought I knew them pretty well: having exchanged many emails with them on a variety of subjects, I thought we’d be like-minded and compatible. But viewed from a sceptical perspective, the act of going to a strange city to meet-up with strangers is just as crazy as building a park on a swamp or draping miles of pathways with breeze-billowed fabric.
Now that I’ve been through the Gates with them, I can say these three “virtual strangers” are now cherished friends; having traveled 10 hours round trip in order to spend just over 24 hours in the Big Apple, I can say that any trip to New York, no matter how short, is time well-spent. I might not know much about contemporary art, but I’m a longtime admirer of the Art of Possibility. Where naysayers saw soggy sinkholes, Frederick Law Olmsted saw a pastoral retreat for world-weary citizens; where critics saw a waste of money on silly spectacle, Christo saw an opportunity for community, an afternoon’s walk in the park turned into Art.
Call me crazy, but I think you sometimes need to go out on a limb–or travel 10 hours round-trip–to meet a stranger, view art you don’t necessarily understand, or step out of the Known and Normal. Central Park with gates is no different from Central Park without…except now I’ll never see Central Park in exactly the same light again. Now that I’ve been swayed by saffron, I’m a believer: the Art of Possibility might seem foolish at first, but its ultimate dividends are pure gold.
- Update: Check out Leslee’s account of our whirlwind trip, including an extreme close-up of a swatch of the cloth used to drape the Gates.
Feb 20, 2005 at 11:23 pm
Beautiful pictures of something (as a Midwesterner, anyway) I kept hearing about but only vaguely understood. Excellent writing as well. Thank you.
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Feb 21, 2005 at 5:14 am
Gorgeous pics and it’s good to hear about your trip.
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Feb 21, 2005 at 9:04 am
Thanks for the tour and commentary, Lorianne. My favorite sentence from your post is this one: “Call me crazy, but I think you sometimes need to go out on a limb–or travel 10 hours round-trip–to meet a stranger, view art you don’t necessarily understand, or step out of the Known and Normal.” Yes!
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Feb 21, 2005 at 9:42 am
I love it, it’s beautiful and I’m so jealous! And it’s just lovely to think of the four of you moving together out of the blogosphere to admire the real thing (and the real each other) and back to share your thoughts and pictures here again.
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Feb 21, 2005 at 9:48 am
I am soooo jealous!!! I would love to see the gates up close and personal. I did catch a segment on 60 Minutes and CBS News Sunday Morning, though. Still, it’s not the same as being there.
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Feb 21, 2005 at 10:08 am
Hey, you almost had me wishing I was there too…
then I remembered: I was there! What fun it was, Zen Mama.
The only thing you left out is the fact that we all used incredibly filthy language all weekend long.
I’ve gotten through two tubes of toothpaste already, and my mouth still feels funny…
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Feb 21, 2005 at 1:08 pm
It’s one thing to see the same standard pictures in magazines and the news, but to see it from the eye of someone who is actually there to experience it, rather than report it, it was lovely to see. I am always fascinated by what people come up with the steps it takes to bring their ideas to fruition.
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Feb 21, 2005 at 6:57 pm
Oh your pictures are glorious, Lorianne!! And I went over to Leslee’s blog and from there to see the “Summahville Gates” and laughed out loud. Just TOO funny!!
Glad you had such a good trip. I love my city, and I’m always happy when others love it too. (btw…I love Boston as well. Except for those R– S–. š )
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Feb 21, 2005 at 10:28 pm
Thanks for the comments, everyone. As much as I loved seeing the Gates in person, half the fun was coming home & sharing it online for those who can’t make the trip.
Matt, as someone born & raised in Ohio, I understand your Midwestern perspective. As I mentioned in the post, I usually don’t “get” contemporary art, and I’ve never “gotten” Christo. But this project seems different: it’s so beautiful & *accessible* to the public, you can’t help but be swept up in the festivity of it, even if the media hype is a bit obnoxious at times.
Natalie, I’m glad you enjoyed the virtual tour: consider it payment-in-kind for those wonderful Egypt images you’ve been sharing! š
BethW, I’m glad you liked that line because I truly believe it. Sometimes you just have to follow your crazy dreams, and *that’s* the message I get from Christo’s crazy gates.
Jean, I love this image of moving in & out of the blogosphere… Yes, I wanted to see the Gates in person, and yes, I wanted to meet Elck & Dave in person (and spend more time with Leslee). At the end of the day, I think that’s the purpose of Art: it draws us together so we can discuss and debate the deepest contents of our souls. If blogging helps move us toward that end, then I guess blogs are Art, too.
Ron, I wish you’d been there to take better photos than mine! I wanted to stay in NYC longer, but I had to be back to teach today, so it was a painfully short trip. But seeing the spectacle in person was worth it: the photos help set the stage, but of course being there is entirely different.
Elck, where I come from, we have a saying: Fuck yeah! And that, my friend, is some fucked up shit. š
Bari, I’m glad my images & entry seemed “different” from the usual media coverage. There’s been so much hype around this project, it’s difficult to find something “new” to say. In the end, though, I couldn’t resist this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Had I not been crazy enough to go, I would have always regretted it!
pathergirl, I guess we complement each other since I love NYC but hate those Damn Yankees. Let me know the next time you’re in Boston & maybe we could meet for coffee, *without* any talk of baseball! š Good to hear you liked the photos, and good to hear you clicked over to see Somerville’s “little brother” version of NY’s big show. As much as I loved the Gates, I laughed out loud to see them so wonderfully mocked!
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Feb 22, 2005 at 3:02 pm
You wrote: “The Gates aren’t designed to be looked at; the Gates are designed to be walked through.” I’m not sure I understand the concept of art that isn’t meant to be looked at. I mean, even a blank canvas with only the words “Don’t look here” printed in black in the middle has to be looked at, doesn’t it?
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Feb 23, 2005 at 7:37 am
Good point, Rob. I guess I should have said, “The Gates aren’t designed ONLY to be looked at.” Of course they’re visually stunning, and pictures of them are themselves art…but I still believe that Gates are meant to be walked through, that one’s appreciation for this piece is impartial if you’re “only” looking rather than looking, walking, mingling.
As I said in my post, ultimately this installation is a performance piece. The Gates themselves are a visual delight, but the “art” also lies in the crowds of people milling about & in the act of walking through those crowds.
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Feb 23, 2005 at 9:26 am
Fair enough. But then what’s a blog’s comment section without a few people miopically focusing on the irrelevant details in the interest of shifting focus from the largely self-consistent overall message?
“While I agree that your plan to ameliorate the world’s economic and social inequities is probably the greatest that has ever been presented, I am finally unable to support it because in the second paragraph on page 2 of your proposal (line 13) you mistakenly use ‘hopefully’ as a sentence modifier meaning ‘I hope’ instead of correctly as an adverb meaning ‘in a hopeful manner’.”
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Feb 23, 2005 at 10:00 am
Well, if there’s anything this blog is all about, it’s myopic over-focus! š
You think like an English major…or a lawyer. I let you decide whether that (coming from an English prof) is a compliment or criticism! š
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Feb 26, 2005 at 2:13 pm
The Gates, Central Park, New York
I was blogsurfing and found this blog with nice photos of the work of art Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Central Park.
Take a look at
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Mar 3, 2005 at 12:27 am
I enjoyed your blog, your pictures and most of all, your attitude. It is sometimes the serendipitous things in life that become our best memories. Back in September, I had a feeling this would be a once in a lifetime experience and, on a whim, booked a hotel room overlooking the park. Our weekend overlooking The Gates was magical and unforgettable. Thanks for sharing!
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Mar 3, 2005 at 6:29 pm
Maggi, how wonderful that you had the foresight to book a room & see the Gates in person! In my case, the decision to go to NYC was a “crazy” last minute idea, but I knew I’d forever regret it if I didn’t go. So hurray for acting on crazy impulses! š
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Mar 4, 2005 at 1:37 am
Hi-Lovely way to see the Gates. I saw clumpy and construction and save me orange. You did capture saffron! Thank you for that. Now, I read something about the summahville gates and can’t find it. Where oh where? Thx, Estelle
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Mar 4, 2005 at 6:25 am
Hi, Estelle–thanks for taking the time to comment! I usually don’t like orange much myself, and before this I was never “into” Christo. But I love Central Park, and it was so beautiful and festive the day I was there!
The “Summahville Gates” is a jab at the way that Boston folks say “Somerville,” a suburb of Boston. The guy who posted pictures of tiny orange gates in his Somerville apartment has since taken those pictures down, making his art just as temporary as Christo’s:
http://www.not-rocket-science.com/door_gates.htm
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Mar 5, 2005 at 4:59 am
very sweet article and photos!
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