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[guster lover]

hey, i know this is kind of late... and i hope no one else has posted about it! but since this is a forum about art, what do people think about the gates in nyc? art or not? worth the money? etc...

[BlueCoatKarma]

I dunno... I guess I feel it could have been spent on something more pragmatic - philanthropy in this country is so minimal as is, I'd imagine there was something they could have spent it on that would have more directly benefited people. Central Park is beautiful as is.

Then again, I haven't actually SEEN the gates... I was there a bit before that whole thing happened.

[IHeartShinyObjects]

I love art. I do I like to think i know something about it. That said, i've never seen them in person. I've only seen pictures on tv and that probably doesn't do it justice. But it seems like they really could have doesnt something better. I mean really does it mean anything?

[Keith Decent]

two guys with huge egos that decide sporatically to make huge installation pieces for teh sake of making huge installation pieces.

They set out to change the way art was made, I'm sure, but only ended up making New York City a bundle of tourist dollars to come see some orangle cloth that means absolutely nothing.

They could have built a few community centers, homeless shelters or hired a few teachers, maybe bought some books for that kind of cash.

I saw them, They were nothing special. New York City has to gt it's fucking priorities straight but soon.

[Primate]

Just so we're all clear, New York didn't pay for the project. The artists Christo (the guy) and Jeanne-Claude (the chick) paid for it themselves.

From http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0214/p11s01-ussc.html

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a supporter of public art, championed the $20 million work, which was paid for entirely by the artists.

So any priority problems belong solely to the artists rather than the city or its citizens.

[guster lover]

well... i saw them while i was in new york & they brightened everything up... but it was still kind of stupid. at least it attracted tourist money, i guess.

[reva]

- not two guys.  a guy and his wife, just to be anal about it

- the structures supporting the banners were meant as symbols of the grid patter that NYC is layed out in, and the fabric flowing in the middle was to represent the organic forms found within the city in Central Park.

- Yes, the money could have been spent by the artists for other things, but eccentric wealthy people have spent money in much more pointless ways; we just don't hear about those because it's an everyday occurance.

[dancarter]

it's a weird thing, christo's work.

recently my fine arts department took a trip to the AGO in Toronto to see his retrospective, which included sketches and plans for the gates.  i really tend to like his work more in the planning aspect than in its actual execution.  the thought process is really interesting and the sketches are huge and not to be missed if you get a chance to see them.  

the only thing that wins out for me with his stuff is that he pays for it himself.  there's no grant money being appropriated from governments or anything like that, so that seems to be a more proper justification for him to do what he wants to do.  he's not leeching for millions from some committee.