The Gates, Christo & Jean-Claude

[lescaret]

Anybody planning on going to NYC in the next few weeks to see Christo & Jean-Claude's The Gates?

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html

Has anybody seen a Christo/Jean-Claude installation?

Back in 1995 when they wrapped the Reichstag, I thought that was the most inane and ridiculous thing - until I saw photographs, heard stories about it, and opened my mind to it, and to them. Now I see their projects in a whole different light. Would love to hear stories or experiences from anyone who's been aware of and into their work for a while, or has thoughts & opinions on their art.

Anyway, a few friends and myself are planning on going this Saturday, the 12th, the day the gates are unfurled. If you wanna' meet up, hike the park, talk art, have a beer, then be in touch.

[sooZen]

I'd love to hear what you think.

My problem with this installation and from what I have heard since I follow the progress of the red-tailed hawk, Pale Male, that nests in Central Park is the interruption of some of the species that nest in or near the park. All those flags waving around and the cones being pulled up and tossed into the ponds by unthinking and uninsightful (is that a word?) people. This perspective is from far away and I don't actually know what is really happening but some of the nature watchers that live near have reported and blogged on this problem. I think art should not encroach on other species but hey, not all artists will agree with that. (There is some lady artist out there that kills and positions cats for her art....gives me the creeps though.)

Please report back, I would be very interested on hearing from someone that goes and sees in person. And say hello to Pale Male and his mate Lola....they are building their new nest right now after the tenents of the building they nest on lost the right to toss them off.

Peace,
SooZen

[lescaret]

Hi SooZen, nice to hear from you.

I'd be interested in reading some of the blogs you mention about the potential impact of The Gates project.

While I'm sympathetic to the plight of nature in confrontation with humankind, I also think some nature watchers get a little carried away with themselves. If birds and animals can live in the city amidst the city's cacophony, the whizzing cars & buses & trucks, the millions of Central Park visitors including roller-bladers, joggers, walkers, dogs, etc., it's hard to believe that "all those flags waving around" will disrupt the birds and the bees.

Ditto for Pale Male & mate (who don't really live in the park anyway). Heck, if they can withstand having their nest torn down and removed and still come back and re-build, I doubt that they'll be bothered in the least by The Gates.

I think some nature watchers have a tendency to anthropomorphize animals and project their own irrational fears onto the animal kingdom.

But I'll report back for sure. Hopefully I won't be called upon to rescue any traumatized sparrows.

[sooZen]

les...yes, I know where you are coming from but as a gardener I know that a good way to keep the animals out of the garden is to tie flags to a bush.

Pale Male is an exception and exceptional in many ways. He doesn't live in the Park, he lives 'on' the park and he choose that way of life. Raising twenty-three fledgelings speaks pretty highly of the old boy. I think this site may have some of what I was refering to about Christo's installation: http://palemale.com/

True, we all can get carried away sometimes, even those with the best of intentions but I think most humans underestimate the intelligence of other species because it doesn't fit their ideas of what 'intelligence' and communication are. Hummingbirds have dialects according to what part of the country they are from, pigeons in New York have learned to take the subway from place to place instead of flying. Most do not take notice of what is going on in this world and what other species are saying. Sorry, I am an environmental writer...Hah! Can you tell? I do try and not have irrational fears only observational facts.

Anyway, I hope the birds will ignore Christo as they don't have a lot of other places to hide anymore.

Have a great time, have a beer and perhaps you will share some pics?

SooZen

[lescaret]

Pigeons on the subway
hummingbirds asking "which way to New Yawk?"
hoary grey squirrel hailing a cab outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art ....

And that's the great thing about city "wildlife", the critters adapt. Fluttering sheets might spook the rural Texas grackle or skittish woodchuck but for a mighty raptor like Pale Male, utterly at ease in the rough and tumble world of midtown Manhattan, Christo's Gates might prove a welcome bit of diversionary eye candy rather than a perceived threat. Who knows what goes on in the hawk's mind!

This Pale Male blog comment (thanks for posting the link) is classic and is exactly what strikes me as humans projecting their humankind vision and experience onto animals:

"The Gates along 72nd St Transverse, a guy selling "Gates" T-Shirts and Caps....and right above the gates and the saleman, Lola peering down from a pin oak only a few feet from them with a look (am I projecting?) of sheer comtempt. I think the Gates are bothering me more than her, which is a good thing!"

At least she's honest in her self-awareness ("I think the Gates are bothering me more than her ....").

Think, 7,500 Gates means 7,500 new places to perch and poop!

I hear you, though, BB. Actually, I'm a bit of an animist myself, I believe in some unscientifically described undercurrent that connects grass & stone & tree & bird & steel girder & paper scrap & picture frame & fig leaf etc., a morphic resonance undergirding our collective planetary being-ness. We're all connected, we're all wildlife.

Posting pictures is a good idea. I'll see what I can do about that.

And here are some salient facts, taken from the Gates website I posted earlier.

- "All the materials from Christo and Jeanne-Claude's artworks are industrially recycled. This makes sure relics are not scattered about the place, looking into the past. Also, disassembly and recycling is environmentally sound"

- "Q: What are the other products, who gets the money from them?
Christo and Jeanne-Claude have donated all merchandising rights from The Gates to Nurture New York's Nature http://www.nnyn.org/home.html (associated with the Carriage House Center for Global Issues Foundation), and to The Central Park Conservancy."

[Lightning Rod]

Actually, I'm a bit of an animist myself, I believe in some unscientifically described undercurrent that connects grass & stone & tree & bird & steel girder & paper scrap & picture frame & fig leaf etc., a morphic resonance undergirding our collective planetary being-ness. We're all connected, we're all wildlife.

this is a great passage, lescaret

I'll be interested to hear of your visit to The Gates.

take some pichers

[Dave The Dov]

Hey lescaret get some pics I would like to see how it look's like from one of our own S8 people!!!!
_________________
PGP

[sooZen]

Les...saw a blip on 60 Minutes last night about the Christos...what a couple! Amazing what they do and have done. I am sure you had a great time in the Park walking through the 'Gates'.

I also read the following piece on Marie Winns' site, the author of "Red Tails in Love" and thought I'd share it with you...

"2/12/05 -- JOHN BLAKEMAN'S NOT WORRIED ABOUT CHRISTO'S IMPACT ON REDTAILS

I sent John Blakeman a note this morning, asking about the possible impact of the Christo project on the CP redtail pairs. Here is his comforting response
Marie,

... I've followed the Christo (and Jean Claude) project, mostly because it's in CP. It's well reported in a number of media. It was just featured on the NBC national evening news. So I've seen the spectacle of the thing.

I have no concerns regarding its untoward effects on our raptors. They doubtless see the colors so much differently from us, but I'm certain that it will have no lasting effects. Once again, the only matter of consideration for the red-tails is the availability of prey. It will take them just a few minutes to begin to look beyond and beside the flapping nylon (or whatever it is) for their preferred prey. Since it won't deter the activities of rats and pigeons, it won't disrupt the red-tails.

I find the "art work" a peculiar curiosity. Only in New York. (Fortunately, it appears that few, if any, public funds were expended on the event.)

There is an interesting color perception question for red-tails. It is now known that European kestrels, and therefore almost surely American kestrels, too, can detect ultraviolet wavelengths well beyond spectra that mammals and probably other birds can see. We have some evidence that peregrines, also, can see well into the ultraviolet. The question is, can buteonine raptors such as the red-tail also detect broader wavelengths? I don't have any evidence that they do or don't, but it's quite possible. Their brains (as we now know so much better) are arranged so very differently from mammals. Consequently, their vision is probably also very different. They don't think like mammals, and they probably don't see like we do either.

And what if the flags event rather markedly disrupted their hunting? What if food became very difficult to capture while the saffron drapes waft in the wind? The ability of red-tails to endure lengthy periods of famine is quite remarkable. Right now, all of the CP red-tails are quite fit and fat. If any were to be trapped and their chests were to be felt beneath the breast feathers, the keel or breastbone would be hard to feel. In their high condition, a result of ample food, they carry around a remarkable supply of body fat and muscle. There is no doubt each bird could easily go 10 days without a meal, and still be able to fly and hunt. Only after 14 days or so would the un-fed bird begin to be in trouble. This ability to weather week-long episodes of no food actually determines where red-tails are required to migrate from in winter. In Michigan, and most of upstate New York, red-tails tend to leave the northern parts of these states each winter. In the southern tiers of counties, the hawks can always thrive in the winter. This is because in the northern regions deep snow tends to lay on the land for weeks. In the southern parts, snows are not as deep nor long-lasting. This allows the southern hawks to hunt winter voles in snow-free areas.

So, even if the Christo project keep our hawks from hunting as they'd like, the project will be taken down before any real harm could happen. Our birds can handle this, I'm sure. Thankfully, it's not happening during incubation or eyass-feeding periods, when food procurement is crucial."

Blakeman is a well know authority on hawks and if he is not worried, nor am I. It is good to know that some artists that I appreciate and admire have not caused me or the birds any troubles.

Now...tell us all about it!

Peace,
SooZen

[lescaret]

The Gates is a triumphant, joyful, eccentric, embracing, and truly magnificent work of art. It succeeds on a number of levels.

First, it is welcoming and celebratory. Thousands and thousands of people came and meandered through the park on Saturday, everyone unified by the oddity of these strange billowing saffron gates. The Gates transformed the park into a giant happening, a grand occassion that broke down the social & cultural barriers that normally keep people guarded & suspicious of each other. We were drawn in by curious spectacle and in our thronging numbers became part of the work itself, a strolling mass of good-natured humanity.

Second, it's a visual delight. I hope my photos (in the Visual Arts forum) reveal that to some degree. Rather than clashing wildly with the barren winter landscape (as one might expect given the brightness of the fabric), the Gates manage to enhance the landscape. The nuances of the curves, the dips and small hills, the meandering nature of the walkways, all are highlighted rather than overwhelmed by the serpentine wanderings of the Gates.

Third, the very scale of the project inspires you to walk and explore. The Gates lead you on a meandering adventure, seducing you into seeing what's over there, what's around the corner, what's on the other side of the Great Field. Pretty soon, you've explored more of Central Park than you ever have before, and come to appreciate it more as well. Who knew there were so many distinctive areas of the Park?

Just an amazing experience. Utterly unique. Joyous. Positive.

And not a single angry sparrow to be seen! No tormented raptors, sullen in the trees. In fact, the squirrels were out and about as normal, offering themselves as delicious red-tail supper treats.

Honestly, the whole project has been completely ecologically-considered. Money raised from the sale of merchandise goes to the New York Nature Conservancy.

And once you're there and actually experiencing it, you understand immediately that, rather than disrupting the natural essence of the park, The Gates project actually enhances the serenity of the whole vast space. One doesn't necessarily adopt a hushed reverence while exploring it all but one does come to appreciate the magnificence of this sacred piece of urban landscape. And the billowing, uplifting colorful gates themselves manage to highlight it all with a saffron-colored optimism that, for me anyway, proved incredibly refreshing.

If you have the chance to go and have been wondering whether you should or not, stop hesitating. Go! You won't be disappointed, it's an amazing work of art.

[jimboloco]

I went to Yahoo and searched under Images and found a number of them for "The Gates, Central Park, New York "
Since this is a cultures spin, I thought you might like to see the press conference with the Mayor Bloomberg and
Christo and his red headed co-conspirator, Jean-Claude I believe.



I did a drawing in a design class at Houston Museum school of fine arts in 1977. It was a fantasy drawing of a Christo ribbon fence runnin down a hilly terrain......using the golden mean and spiral as compostional design.

While I don't care for the red-head's lauding of Mayor Bloomberg,
I'd say that public art, including monuments of

pencil, charcoal, pastel, wax crayon, enamel paint, fabric sample, hand-drawn map, technical data and tape

are a hell of a lot better than wasting dollars on sending people to wars. My fave quote from Jackadiah Zero Hour Stilltrucking by some great mind about why we have warz (Frankl) cause we ain't got no imagination about otherwise what to do.

I had my vision with the sacred mare in the high nite desert and realised,
we should have sent them gardening tools.

Trouble, Christo's opusmagnus is abstract, design only, no proletarian socialist realism. We got propaganda enough.

But am imaginative construction can serve a purpose.
Like Arlington West, the graveyard on the beach that keeps on growing, or poems that turn the liberty bell into stone,

and Mikey Moore dumped televisions into Afghan tea houses.

When I think about the mass carpet bombing in eastern Cambodia, I think
now there's an earthwork Robert (spiral jetty) Smithson would've been proud of

not really of course he'f been shocked and in fact I bet he knew, died in a plane crash 1973.....

but yes I concur
we need art and big bucks republican art
is bettern war any day.

it could even stimulate their imagination.

[sooZen]

Wonderful eyewitness Les...Thanks ever so much for taking me there and the impressions it left on you as it is a bit too far to travel from Phar Lepht, where I live. You really made me want to though...

Great Pictures, amazing description, no freaked sparrows....heh. It all sounds great!

Peace,
SooZen

[sooZen]

Jimbo...do the Christo's look out of place or what? Hah!

Thanks for the tales and jimboloco history...

Artists friends of mine are headed out from Phar Lepht, Tejas this coming Friday to New Yawk, to see CP, the Gates and a David Manmouth (not sure how his name is spelled) play. They are excited and I am too, to hear friend David (plein aire landscape painter) and his wife Cactus Mary's (natural soap maker) impressions...I am sure David will capture it in his wonderful style.

Peace,
SooZen

[lescaret]

Here's a slide show/essay on Christo/JeanClaude and the Gates. The author writes, of their wrapping technique:

"Wrapping is not a shtick for these artists. Christo and Jeanne-Claude seek to calm the riot of visual data, to refresh old perceptions, to briefly halt the endless proliferation of "products" that assault the eye."

http://slate.msn.com/id/2113472/

He also ends up slightly disgruntled over the "pushing crowds" and seems smug in his conclusion that the best view of the project is from the exclusive apartments overlooking the park (i.e., art for the masses best viewed from the vantage point of the wealthy's exclusive domains).

Whatever. I suggest that the best vantage point is one's own, regardless from what angle or elevation. That's part of the wonder of the project - everyone brings to it their own unique perceptions and celebrates it (or dismisses it) from the depths (or shallows) of their own beings.

[Lightning Rod]

great slide show

I love it that Jean-Claude's hair is the same color as the Gates

[jimboloco]

Artists friends of mine are headed out from Phar Lepht, Tejas this coming Friday to New Yawk, to see CP, the Gates and a David Manmouth (not sure how his name is spelled) play. They are excited and I am too, to hear friend David (plein aire landscape painter) and his wife Cactus Mary's (natural soap maker) impressions...I am sure David will capture it in his wonderful style

How can a plein aire painter and a soap maker do a play of impressions?
Some feedback please. Buddhalady

Jimbo...do the Christo's look out of place or what? Hah!

The Flaming Red Head said Bloomberg was a great mayor.

The orange on blue sky is great, but only if seen from the point of view of lowly walkers, not the visage from above, the aerial perches of the city dwellers.

the best view of the project is from the exclusive apartments overlooking the park (i.e., art for the masses best viewed from the vantage point of the wealthy's exclusive domains).

Whatever. I suggest that the best vantage point is one's own, regardless from what angle or elevation. That's part of the wonder of the project - everyone brings to it their own unique perceptions and celebrates it (or dismisses it) from the depths (or shallows) of their own beings.

NYC from the Bowery, Dec 1981.

oh where is Rashneesh an da orange people?